Jumbo Rio triumphs in Leopardstown opener

Jumbo Rio held off the renewed challenge of Ebadiyan to take the Grade Two Spring Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The 11-4 chance was always close to the pace in the hands of Andrew McNamara, but appeared to have ruined his chances when blundering the second-last.

However, McNamara soon got Edward O’Grady’s charge back on an even keel and stayed on strongly after the final flight to score by three-quarters of a length from Ebadiyan.

The runner-up made much of the running and, after appearing to get outpaced on the turn for home, kept on again.

William Hill cut the winner to 12-1 from 20-1 for the Triumph Hurdle in March, with Ebadiyan unchanged at 10-1.

Paddy Power go 14-1 from 20s about Jumbo Jet for the same race at the Festival, but eased the runner-up to 10-1 (from 15-2).

Winning owner Patrick Wilmott said: “It’s obviously the best race he has run this year and he has done it the hard way.

“He made a bad error at the second-last and he has done well to come back from that.

“It looks very decent juvenile form and all roads lead to Cheltenham.

“I’d say he would have too much weight in the Fred Winter, so the Triumph Hurdle looks the obvious option.”