NAAS (26 Feb 2006)

Soft To Heavy

4:50 W.A.Osborne & Co. Handicap Hurdle (4yo+,81-123)

[off 4:51] £8,979.31, £2,634.48, £1,255.17, £427.59 3m

Comments In Running OR TS RPR

1 Compo E McNamara 8 9-12 B C Byrnes(5) 6/1 93 59 102

2 hd Zaffran Lady A L T Moore 7 9-7 b T G M Ryan(3) 10/1 86 51 95

3 1 Castle Hope Stephen Ryan 8 10-1 D J Condon 16/1 91 56 99

4 2 Back In Business Donal Hassett 6 9-12 t N P Madden 8/1 88 51 94

5 2 Bye Day Anthony Mullins 8 11-3 P Carberry 7/2F 107 68 111

6 12 Hard To Get Ten Mrs John Harrington 6 9-3 A D Leigh(7) 5/1 86 — 78

7 8 Bright Gas (GB) H Rogers 7 11-12 B J Geraghty 11/1 116 — 100

8 25 Sharway John J Maguire 8 9-10 P A Carberry 25/1 86 — 45

9 25 Desperado Queen L W Doran 8 10-8 R C Colgan(3) 33/1 101 — 35

10 1½ Mount Grace Joseph Crowley 5 10-7 J M Allen 25/1 97 — 29

11 8 Sounds Good C F Swan 6 10-8 p A P McCoy 12/1 98 — 22

12 20 The Bosses Nephew John Brassil 5 11-5 D N Russell 7/1 109 — 13

13 ¾ Supreme Peace F Flood 8 10-12 K T Coleman(5) 16/1 107 — 11

PU Biennale Patrick O Brady 10 9-12 t K F McDonagh(7) 33/1 95 — —

PU Sheebadiva Sean Aherne 5 10-9 D J Casey 14/1 99 — —

PU Quiet Tom A D Nolan 8 9-3 A P Fagan(7) 33/1 86 — —

16 ran TIME 6m 13.10s (slow by 36.10s) TOTAL SP 136%

NON RUNNER: Shining Lights

1st OWNER: R McNamara BRED: Denis Fahey TRAINER: E McNamara

2nd OWNER: Justlite com Racing Syndicate

3rd OWNER: Michael Martin

TOTE WIN £5.50 PL £2.50, £2.30, £4.40, £2.40; Ex £48.80; CSF £69.64; TRICAST £953.41

ANALYSIS: The versatile COMPO dug deep to record his second success over hurdles. He has been running well over fences recently and had little trouble transferring that form to the smaller obstacles. After moving into a challenging position early in the straight, he led jumping the last and, despite his rider losing his whip on the run-in, he kept on bravely to see off the persistent Zaffran Lady. Further success looks well within his grasp.

Zaffran Lady was 8lb higher than when winning a similar contest at Navan last month. She tried to make all the running and kept on well under pressure once challenged by the winner. She too looks capable of adding to her tally.

Castle Hope was given a patient ride and stayed on well in the straight. She was 6lb higher than when successful at Cork on her penultimate outing and was back to her best.

Back In Business was another to come from off the pace and was well positioned at the second-last, but he was unable to find a way past the leaders. He got 9lb for winning at Navan last month and performed respectably off this career-high mark.

Bye Day was having only the fourth outing of his career and ran creditably on this handicap debut. He was under pressure before the turn in, but stuck to his task and finished close enough to suggest he will make his mark in this sphere.

Hard To Get Ten may prefer a slightly shorter trip, while Bright Gas, having her first outing since April, ran better than her finishing position suggests and could be one to keep in mind next time.