Timely pre-Cheltenham boost for Carberry

Paul Carberry received a timely pre-Cheltenham boost when guiding Oscar Hill to an easy win in the Roadhouse Pun Novice Handicap Hurdle in Downpatrick yesterday, first leg of a double for trainer Gordon Elliott, completed when Carberry’s sister Nina partnered Spring Lane to an odds-on win in the bumper.

On his seventh ride since returning from a seven-week absence, caused by a broken collarbone sustained on a skiing holiday in January, the former champion made all on 5/4 favourite Oscar Hill, drawing clear from the third last to record a bloodless, thirty-one length victory over Mylerstown.

Winning trainer Elliott declared: “It was a bit of a bike race but he’s a tricky horse and it’s great for his owners that he won again. Paul said he was worried coming down the hill — he was so far clear that he thought he had to go around again.”