Vintage ride from McCoy at Leopardstown

Tony McCoy was at his strongest as he got Vintage Gold home in a close finish to the opening race on a star-studded card at Leopardstown.

Vintage Gold (16-1) and the gambled-on Schindlers Hunt were locked together on the run to the line and they flashed past the post as one.

However, it was Vintage Gold, owned by J P McManus and trained by Charles O’Brien, who obliged by a short-head in a bobbing finish to the Frank Conroy Memorial Maiden Hurdle.

Conor O’Dwyer committed Schindlers Hunt fully three flights from home and had the opposition, including the hot favourite Bobs Pride, at full stretch, but could not quite hold Vintage Gold.

Sher Why Not survived a bad error at the last to hang on to third place, but the Dermot Weld-trained market leader was a big disappointment on his hurdling debut.

"He's a nice horse and he ran well at Cork but blew up," said O'Brien.

“He needs decent ground – he can bounce off that – and it was probably softer than ideal today. He needs a strong pace and they went off so fast today that it really suited him.

“This is a nice race to win. He’s in the Supreme Novices’ as two miles is his distance – but he’s not certain to go.”