Carberry at his brilliant best as Oscar Looby foils jolly

AVAILING of a window in his thirty-day ban, Paul Carberry guided Oscar Looby to victory in the Grade 2 Woodlands Park 100 Club Novice Chase at Naas yesterday.

On a day when he got beaten a short-head on Muirhead in the earlier Limestone Lad Hurdle, Carberry brought Oscar Looby from well off the pace to foil odds-on favourite Alpha Ridge in the three-runner feature, prompting his boss Noel Mead to state: “He’s a class jockey. Did you see the way he sat out the back and let the other two beat each other up? We’ve been lucky to have somebody as good as Davy (Condon) riding for us during Paul’s ban. But Paul is class!”

Meade added: “Oscar Looby tends to hit a flat spot in his races. He takes a big heave at some stage. It happened today after the ditch, before Paul got involved. He won well and might be an Irish Grand National horse one day. The ‘Ten Up’ at Navan next month would look a suitable race for him.”