Castle is king at Killarney

Conna Castle followed up his second to Straw Bear with a bloodless success over hurdles at Killarney and will be now be aimed at the Irish Independent Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival next March.

Jimmy Mangan’s seven-year-old was 13 lengths behind Straw Bear at Aintree last month and confirmed himself a smart prospect when coasting home as the 1-5 favourite in the Laurels Bar Hurdle.

Mangan said: “He’ll go chasing next year and is versatile enough regarding the trip, although two and half miles is as far as he will go.

“He will hopefully go to the Arkle, but there are a lot of races to be won before then and he will probably reappear in November.”