The lightly raced Farren Glory stepped up from his maiden hurdle victory at Clonmel in November to land the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Sunday for trainer Gordon Elliott.
Fifth on hurdling debut in Grade 2 company at Punchestown in April, the six-year-old returned after the summer break with a victory in a twenty-four runner Clonmel maiden hurdle on heavy ground, where he made hard work of the race with some jumping errors.
It appeared to be a similar problem in the closing stages of the Royal Bond, with Farren Glory serving up a significant error at the second-last flight when attempting to make his bid. Under a hard drive from jockey Jack Kennedy, the gelding drew alongside stablemate King Of Kingsfield going into the last and made another messy jump. Once hitting the flat, Farren Gloru began to make ground and passed King of Kingsfield to claim victory, with favourite An Tober holding on for third against a fast finishing Bialystok.
"In fairness to Jack, he picked this lad – he had the choice of all three and I wasn't sure he was on the right one," said Gordon Elliott.
"He's riding out of his skin. There is only one winning line and he gave him a great ride.
"We knew he stayed well and won over a longer trip the last day.
"He's going to have to improve again, as I'd say it wasn't the strongest Grade One ever, but it is never easy to win them.
"He did everything wrong in Clonmel. We didn't want to make the running and we had to, so we were hopeful with a bit of pace today and he sat in behind the leader.
"I'm not sure where he will go next. Leopardstown might not be the track for him on quick ground and I wouldn't be shocked if we brought him to England for the Tolworth (now the Formby Novices' Hurdle at Aintree) or the Challow."
Paddy Power have shortened Farren Glory from 40/1 to 16/1 for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and 33/1 to 16/1 for the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival on the back of his Royal Bond success.
