Political animal tops Navan poll

Noel Meade"s Donnas Palm scored a facile victory for his political connections at Navan on Sunday when he strolled home in the opening race, the Navan Membership Hurdle. Owned by the same syndicate of 12 politicians, the Grand Alliance Racing Club which includes An Taoiseach Brian Cowan, that enjoyed so much success with Arctic Copper, the grey four-year-old gelding was having only his fourth racecourse appearance. Donnas Palm has won three times, Nina Carberry steered him to victory in a Navan bumper last September and Paul Carberry followed that with a maiden hurdle win at Naas in October. Trainer Meade then aimed Donnas Palm at the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse at the end of November and in that race, Paul Carberry opted to ride Fisher Bridge for his boss. Barry Geraghty deputised on Donnas Palm and took him to within a neck of the Willie Mullins-trained Hurricane Fly. 'That was only his second run over hurdles and I was impressed with him, although he didn"t win,' Meade told the Meath Chronicle after that race. Reverting to his own age group on Sunday, he was settled in third before Paul Carberry eased him to the front at the third-last flight. And although Meade wasn"t at Navan on Sunday, he is currently recovering from an operation in hospital, he was delighted with the performance of Donnas Palm. ' It was a very impressive display, although it could probably described as a moderate race,' Meade told the Meath Chronicle on Monday. 'It was helpful that Paul was able to give him an easy race and win, because he had a very hard race in the Royal Bond at Fairyhouse, that was a Grade 1 event and he was only a neck off the winner, Hurricane Fly. 'He really only had a canter at Navan, he"s still only a four-year-old and we might go for some of the big races at Christmas,' suggested the trainer of his winner which was returned at the extremely short price of 1/7. 'It wasn"t surprising that he went off at odds-on, but then he didn"t know what price he was, so it didn"t really matter,' he added. Meade was also expected to win the second race on the card, the three-runner Barry & Sandra Kelly Memorial Novice Hurdle, but he was out of luck when Pandorama (2/7) was beaten by Mikael D"Haguenet"s which is also trained by Mullins. With only three runners lining up, Paul Carberry was forced to set the pace and Mikael D"Haguenet was on the leader"s shoulder throughout the two-and-a-half-mile contest. The pair settled down for a battle from three out when Aura About You started to struggle with the 3/1 second-favourite moving best under Paul Townend for an impressive seven-length victory. 'I suppose a lot of people were disappointed with Pandorama, but his defeat wasn"t a total surprise to me anyway,' explained the trainer. 'Willie Mullins won the race with a horse that had beaten another one of mine, Realt Dubh, at Navan last month and I was really surprised by that. 'However, Pandorama and Willie"s horse were a long way clear of the third horse, Aura About You, which was fourth in the Royal Bond, so it wasn"t exactly a bad performance by my fellow,' concluded the trainer who is optimistic that he will be back in action by the end of this week. 'We came here to see how good this horse was and that was something else, it was a huge performance. He likes this type of ground and we have no worries with trip. His next possible target is the Slaney Hurdle at Naas in January,' stated Mullins. Meade had also to play second fiddle to Mullins when Aitmatov made up ground too late to catch Shakervilz in the Giltspur Scientific Tara Hurdle. Last week, at the rescheduled Punchestown meeting, Meade sent out a very impressive winner in Go Native which may be aimed at some of the big Christmas races.