ALAIVAN CUT FOR TRIUMPH

February 20 2010

O'Grady - more to come.

Alaivan boosted his Triumph Hurdle claims with an effortless success in the Winning Fair Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse.

No match for Gordon Elliott's Carlito Brigante when he was last seen at Leopardstown over Christmas, Edward O'Grady's four-year-old this time had no trouble in adding to his tally.

Sent off the 4-6 favourite, Andrew McNamara was content to sit way off the pace, but he moved through the field on the bridle to win by 17 lengths from Loch Long.

Boylesports, Sky Bet, totesport and William Hill all cut him to 6-1 for the Triumph at Cheltenham.

O'Grady said: "Alaivan disappointed us at Christmas but was obviously beaten by a very good horse.

"However, I think today's win, and his debut win, were better performances than his Christmas run and his jumping has improved too.

"Last Wednesday was actually the first day Alaivan really pleased me in a gallop since I got him and hopefully he can build on this."