Etoile foils McManus and Roche

Owner JP McManus and trainer Christy Roche failed in their attempt to land the Betdaq.com Hurdle at Tipperary for a fourth successive year as Accordion Etoile (11-2) ran out an easy winner.

The pair sent out last year’s winner Risk Accessor and Grimes for the two-mile race, but neither could top Paul Nolan’s runner, who was an easy six-length winner.

Nolan was not at the track and his brother James said: “Today was the horse’s first serious performance, but from the time we broke him he has always been a very good work horse.

“He’s only a five-year-old, but he’s a joy to train and the last time he ran on the Flat at Leopardstown he just wanted a jump in front of him.

“He won’t run on bad ground. He will be given a short break now and come back for the John James McManus hurdle. After that it’s likely we’ll aim at the champion hurdles.”

Grimes was second, while Risk Accessor, whose next target is likely to be the Galway Plate over fences, had to settle for third.

British representative Duke Of Buckingham was fifth.