Treacy commented: "It's hard to know if he would have won or not, but my mare toughed it out with the favourite from the second last and today there were no excuses."

The trainer had nothing but good to say about Coolgreaney's owners, the 11 member Best Of The Rest Syndicate, most of whom hail from Dublin. "They're unbelievable people to train for and they never ring me or bother me, or complain."

Treacy is contemplating running Tom Doyle's mount next in a listed mares race at Clonmel before she takes a wellearned break. He concluded : "After that we have to decide whether to keep her in training or send her off to stud."

Carthalawn's jockey Davy Russell gained compensation later in the afternoon through the success of the Colm Murphy-trained Clew Bay Lodge in the Woodlands Park 100 Brown Lad Handicap Hurdle. Champion trainer Noel Meade's bandwagon rolled on in the Naas Annual Membership Maiden Hurdle thanks to Antipode who took the spoils under Paul Carberry by three-and-a-half lengths from fellow joint favourite Whispering Wind.

Meade bought the strapping German-bred privately from Christian von Der Recke and reported: "I bought him sight unseen from Christian and I'd say he's a nice horse. He was second in Germany as a two-year-old and is still growing. He'll go for a 'winner's of one' next."

The Meath trainer was also responsible for the favourite The Dotted Line in the INH Stallion Owners EBF Novice Hurdle but he had to settle for second place behind the Eamonn Sheehy-trained Quintana, with Sean Flanagan in the saddle. Sheehy remarked: "He's a hardy fouryear-old and he'll improve from that. He'll get an entry in a listed four-year-old hurdle back here in a couple of weeks time."