Gentleman Duke lords it - again

For the second consecutive year the Arthur Moore-trained Gentleman Duke landed the featured Kinsale Handicap Chase and, in doing so, gave jockey Barry Geraghty the first leg of a double yesterday at Cork Racecourse.

Crown Theatre travelled and jumped with his customary exuberance and looked a winner when moving to the front at the second-last. He was matched at 1-20 on the exchanges, but Barry Geraghty got a great response from the chasing Gentleman Duke, who jumped big at the last but really picked up really well to collar the leader in the dying strides.

As in 2014, trainer Henry de Bromhead was denied by a small margin, of which Moore joked: “We weren’t too hard on Henry this time - it was just a short head last year, half a length this.