Lieutenant Colonel digs deep for victory

Lieutenant Colonel began a memorable day for Bryan Cooper when proving a very popular, and rather poignant, winner of the other Grade 1 on the card, the Squared Financial Christmas Hurdle at Leopardstown yesterday.

The imposing and rapidly improving five-year-old is trained by Sandra Hughes, daughter of the much-respected Dessie, who died relatively recently. This was a gutsy display by Lieutenant Colonel, who had to dig deep to get the better of the front-running Jetson.

Cooper had the leader in his sights throughout and then produced him with impeccable timing to master Jetson in a tough battle from the last.