Casey West potentially booked his ticket to a potential crack at the national fences in Aintree after he ran out a hard-fought winner of the Rathronan maiden hunters chase at Clonmel on Thursday afternoon.
Sent off as the favourite for the 2m4f contest, having gone down by half-a-length in a similar contest at Limerick over Christmas, the eight-year-old was going in search of a maiden victory in all disciplines, having twice finished second in older maidens between the flags in the autumn.
Chasing the leaders under Tiernan Power as the trio of Sampoet, Nibbles and Stormy Story cut out much of the running at a steady gallop, the Casey Brothers Syndicate-owned bay was positioned against the running rail in fourth swinging into the home straight as one of his main market rivals Miners Bridge briefly threw down a short-lived challenge.
The complexion of the race changed notably as the front-running Nibbles ran around approaching the last, at which point Power attempted to get a run between horses on the favourite as the outsider Pulse Of Camelot also arrived on the scene.
Nibbles ultimately crashed out at the last whilst upsides, and whilst Pulse Of Camelot briefly had his head in front on the run-in as he sought to give trainer Liam Burke back-to-back wins in the race, but he was bypassed on either side by Casey West and Dromleigh, with Casey West just getting the verdict by a head.
Dromleigh was finishing placed in hunter chase company for the season time this season after a third at Fairyhouse in November, whilst there was a length and a half back to the aforementioned 33/1 shot Pulse Of Camelot.
Before the race the in-form winning Tinahely trainer Philip Rothwell had intimated that his charge would be better left-handed but was taking this race in in a bid to get qualified for the Aintree Foxhunters.
“Philip said to hold him for as long as possible, but when I needed him for a big one at the last he came up for me,” the winning jockey said.
“He is probably a bit better going left-handed. Barry O’Neill had said it to me before I rode him at Limerick, and it was in the back of my mind, so I wanted to keep horses on my left-hand side. But the race fell apart a bit at the last, and I was left with nothing on my outside, so he drifted.
“He was very easy to ride, he travelled well, jumped away and picked up when I pushed the button.”
