Flooring Porter makes all in brilliant fashion to win Guinness Kerry National at Listowel
By Sporting Life
17:22 · WED September 25, 2024
Flooring Porter made light work of his rivals with a dominant display in the Guinness Kerry National Handicap Chase.
Sent straight to the front at Listowel by jockey Keith Donoghue, Gavin Cromwell's former dual Stayers' Hurdle hero galloped his rivals silly.
He was around eight lengths clear at the head of affairs with a circuit to travel and went even further ahead down the back straight as the chasing pack became more and more ragged as the race wore on.
Flooring Porter got in a little tight to the second-last but the 6/1 shot still had plenty of petrol in the tank and ultimately eased his way to a four and a quarter-length verdict over the running-on 8/1 chance Horantzau D'airy representing Willie Mullins and rider Paul Townend.
Lucid Dreams was third at 28/1 and Churchstonewarrior fourth at the same price, while Zanahiyr (10/1) finished fifth and 11/2 favourite Perceval Legallois - a stablemate of the winner - came in sixth.
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“What do you say, it’s brilliant. He went hard and I have to say I was praying for him across every fence on the last circuit,” said Cromwell. “He just kept the revs up and it was a brilliant performance.”
When asked if he thought his charge, might stop in front, he added: “No, that wasn’t a worry, I was just afraid that he might just miss one or something.
“He was in serious shape. When he gets into that rhythm there is no stopping him, he’ll just keep it going. Keith said he was just a passenger, he couldn’t go any slower! What do you do, just try to meet the jumps the best you can.
“This has been the plan since Cheltenham basically. We can always go back over hurdles as well but I don’t know where we go next. It’s a brilliant race to win and we’ll enjoy this. He’s been a horse of a lifetime, for me and for the syndicate.”
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