Koktail Divn boost for Henry De Bromhead ahead of the Cheltenham Festival

It hasn't been a vintage season for De Bromhead whose strike rate in January was a meagre 4% after only two winners from 55 runners.

As signs of spring appear so, too, have the green shoots of recovery for the County Waterford handler who sent out four winners in February and was delighted to see Koktail Divin open his account for March in the Leopardstown Members Maiden Hurdle.

A winner of two of his three starts in France, Koktail Divin made a promising start over hurdles when pushing Willie Mullins' Kaid d'Authie (fourth behind Kopek Des Bordes at the Dublin Racing Festival next time) close over this course and distance but failed to build on that when beaten over 20 lengths behind Kawaboomga.

Racing for the first time since that defeat, Koktail Divin was always prominent under Rachael Blackmore and quickened clear to win decisively to his trainer's delight.

"Delighted for the Maloneys [owners]," he told Racing TV.

"He came back wrong [the last day] and it was lovely to see him go and do that today. I was always going for another race and he wasn't eligible. I made a mistake and got it wrong and, as everyone knows, we probably weren't flying at the time.

"I'd say we'll aim him at Aintree now which is great. He was impressive there and we'll have a look at Aintree, there are some nice races there for him."

Koktail Divin may not be taking up his entry at the Cheltenham Festival but owner Barry Maloney still has a strong team to travel to England with Workahead a leading contender for the Michael O'Sullivan Supreme Novices' Hurdle and De Bromhead is happy with the way Maloney's horses - and his team in general - are shaping up.

"We're pretty much there now, just tip away now," he said.

"We're happy with them, we worked plenty last week and they were good. We'll see how happy we are in a couple of weeks!

"Workahead seems really good, he worked well the other day, delighted with him. His form has worked out really well obviously.

"Monty's Star in the Gold Cup. We're only getting there now, he needed the Irish Gold Cup again so he will step forward for that as well. We'll see where we are, Galopin is obviously very hard to beat but hoping we hit the frame.

"Life In The Park has probably lost his form a bit but he's showing a few signs he is coming back to himself now."

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