Crawley lands Tramore opener with Lily Yeats

Meath trainer Shane Crawley was the only man flying the Royal County flag with any success at Tramore yesterday when he took the opening race on the card.

Crawley was on the mark with the mare Lily Yeats which got the better of the odds-on Willie Mullins favourite Screaming Rose.

The lightly-raced six-year-old appears to relish racing in the summer months and previously won a maiden hurdle at Bangor in May 2016 before following that up with a win in a handicap hurdle at Tramore last August.

Returning to the track again this year, Lily Yeats had a run over fences in a novice chase at Kilbeggan last month to her credit and had previously finished second in a beginners' chase at Clonmel last October.

However, at Tramore yesterday there was the not inconsiderable challenge of the Mullins-trained Screaming Rose which was supported into 4/7 favourite with Ruby Walsh on board.

Despite making a mistake at the first, Lily Yeats was settled into the race by Dunboyne jockey Chris Timmons and after making steady progress throughout won by a length.

'She’ll mix it now between hurdles and fences, this has been a lucky track for us and she could come back here again if there is a race for her,” commented Crawley in a post-race interview with Donal Murphy of irishracing.com