Big gamble goes astray as Hitchcock fails to thrill

A MASSIVE gamble went astray on Aidan O'Brien's Hitchcock in the Guinness Handicap at Galway last night.

It was a contest which Kieren Fallon will look back on with mixed emotions. To put it bluntly, he found every bit of trouble that was going in running. Hitchcock was a major order in the offices all day, from as high as 2-1. He opened at 5-4 on the track and that appeared particularly skinny. But the three-year-old quickly developed into a major order and went through all the rates down to a returned price of 10-11, extraordinarily short in a competitive contest.

Fallon was locked away on the inside throughout, had nowhere to go up the hill to the straight and, when he finally saw daylight, had a gap closed as he tried to go between eventual winner, Kevkat, and Le Leopard.