Highest Benefit causes upset for Austin at Clonmel

Thn age old adage which says that 'patience is a virtue' was certainly true in the case of Highest Benefit who recorded his maiden victory after 25 or so attempts when taking the two mile and seven 78-104 handicap chase in the hands of Darragh O'Keeffe at Clonmel last week.

Owned, trained and bred by Willie Austin, the son of Beneficial went to post at 12/1 but he belied this rating by pulling his way to the front after the first fence.

Jumping from fence to fence he was headed briefly around the halfway point but soon regained the advantage, however, the pack began to close as they turned to face the judge. Cloudy Morning and Kilbarry Calling emerged as the main challengers but Highest Benefit kept pulling out enough to land the spoils by threeparts of a length from Cloudy Morning with Kilbarry Calling just half a length further back in third place.

In his post race remarks, the winning rider revealed the plan was to race in third or fourth position but the horse jumped the first so well that he allowed him to bowl along. Still very much on the right side of the handicapper, Highest Benefit looks to be in fine fettle so there is no reason why he cannot be placed to advantage in a similar type contest.

 

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