Battleoverdoyen makes perfect start to chasing career

High-class novice hurdler makes no mistake at Galway.

Battleoverdoyen made the perfect start to his career over fences with a dominant front-running display at Galway.

Bought for £235,000 after winning his only start in the point-to-point field, the six-year-old looked every inch a top-class prospect in winning a Punchestown bumper, a Navan maiden hurdle and the Grade One Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle last season.

The Gigginstown House Stud-owned gelding was disappointingly pulled up when favourite for the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, but was nevertheless a warm order for his seasonal reappearance as the 8-11 favourite.

Sent straight to the lead by Keith Donoghue, Battleoverdoyen fenced fluently throughout in the Derrygimlagh Bog Irish EBF Beginners Chase – a race trainer Gordon Elliott had won four times in the last 10 years, most notably with subsequent Gold Cup hero Don Cossack in 2013.

Battleoverdoyen had the majority of his rivals struggling a long way from home and passed the post eight lengths clear of fellow Gigginstown runner Cap York, without being asked for maximum effort.

Donoghue said: “That was brilliant, he jumped very well on the whole and has loads of scope. I was just doing enough in front and after I landed after the last he had a good blow.

“He was later back (to training) than some of the others, so there will be loads of improvement in him and it is good to get that out of the way.

“His class got him through and he was just doing enough in front.”

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