Mourayan staked his own bid for Classic glory in 2009 among trainer John Oxx’s team with a cosy win at Leopardstown.

Trainer Dermot Weld dominated the early Irish Classic trials on Sunday as he took all three feature events on an afternoon his rival Aidan O’Brien will choose to forget.

Noel Glynn is hoping to use the Guinness Galway Hurdle as a springboard to Cheltenham Festival glory for the lightly-raced Serve Time.

Jano Gibson

THE three-day May meeting got underway in glorious sunshine at Killarney yesterday, and young Athlone claimer Mark Watts enjoyed by far his biggest win when partnering Calorando to take the featured Murphys Irish Stout Handicap Hurdle.