Owega Star produced a shock victory in the Grade 2 Tara Hurdle at Navan

Last updated: 16th December 2012   Subscribe to RSS Feed

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Owega Star: On his way to victory at Navan

The Peter Fahey-trained Owega Star (4/1) ran out a surprise winner of the Grade Two Tara Hurdle at Navan.

Following the absences of Simenon and Muirhead, the punters made Un Beau Matin a warm favourite for the Grade Two contest, and they looked likely to collect as he travelled ominously well in the slipstream of the leaders.

Having been produced by Davy Russell to dispute the lead ahead of the penultimate flight, the four-year-old misjudged his jump badly and took a heavy fall.

The spill left Owega Star and Maller Tree to fight out the finish and Andrew Leigh's mount gave generously to post his first ever success in Graded company.

Fahey said: "He really deserved that. If you look back through his form he has never run a bad race.

"He'll probably only have one or two more runs this season as I can't wait for next year over fences - he's a brilliant jumper.

"I'd say the plan will be to bring him back good and early over fences. Andrew gets on with him really well. He's not the easiest horse to ride and can mess around and whip around at the start. This was our Derby day today."