The Grade 1 John Durkan Memorial Chase proved a major anti-climax in Punchestown yesterday as the Willie Mullins-trained Arvika Ligeonniere coasted to an effortless nine lengths win over 2011 winner Rubi Light.

On a night when the legendary Lester Piggott cut the ribbon to officially open the new entrance building at Tipperary racecourse, it was Robert Tyner’s Young Finnegan who stole the show in the Healy Partners’ Architects Maiden Hurdle.

NEW PHASE, winner of the contest a year ago, repeated the trick at Cork yesterday when landing the Follow Us On Facebook Hurdle.

THE Cathal Ryan Memorial Champion Novice Hurdle, the second Grade 1 on the card at Punchestown last night, was billed as a match between First Lieutenant and So Young.

TRIBUTES flooded in yesterday for Jack Tyner, a promising young amateur jockey from Kinsale who died in the early hours of Monday morning, having suffered a serious head injury at Dungarvan point-to-point last Tuesday.

THE Robert Tyner-trained Rock Street ran away with the Powerstown Chase at Clonmel yesterday.