Honest Robber lands gamble and gets off the mark at the age of 12

On a day when Davy Russell sustained a wrist injury in a fall from No Dice in the opener and was stood down for the rest of the meeting, John ‘Shark’ Hanlon and Rachael Blackmore took the honours in Down Royal yesterday, recoding a 53/1 double with Honest Robber and Camlann.

Twelve-year-old Honest Robber, which made his belated racecourse debut only last July, landed a bit of a touch in the St.Patrick’s Punter Pack Handicap Chase, coming through to get the better of Cappacurry Zak to triumph for ‘Shark’ Hanlon.

Sent off at 8/1 (from as big as 20/1 in the morning), Honest Robber scored by three lengths, prompting his rider to state: “It’s a fair training performance to get a twelve-year-old to win as a maiden. The ground is hard work out there, but he seemed to relish it.”