Some high profile names such as JP McManus and Pat Hughes fancied their chances for yesterday's Smithwicks Handicap Hurdle but it was Penny Rich who picked up the £16,850 first prize for Nenagh trainer Tom Hogan.
It was an 18th winner for Hogan who has held a licence for just over two years and Penny Rich also completed a double for David Casey who had earlier won the Beginners Chase on the 16 to 1 outsider Big Frank.
Penny Rich was better fancied than that but his supporters must have been biting their nails for much of the trip as Casey dropped him out stone last. With Tisrabraq taking over from the favourite Bamford Castle (post race distressed) before the straight Penny Rich had ground to make up but he did it with real ease.
The only fright came at the last which he flattened but Penny Rich ran out a four-length winner and received an upbeat report from Casey who said: "He has some boot and he loves that ground. He was almost travelling too well at the last and he'll make a lovely chaser."
Tisrabraq's trainer Frances Crowley couldn't feel too disappointed, however, because Golden Storm had by then run out an extremely easy winner of the mile and a half handicap and the well-backed Equalise got the better of Fountain Page in the last strides of the three mile hurdle.
Yet Crowley had a short priced failure when the 2 to 5 Aberdeenshire was well beaten behind the 33/1 outsider Elwyn Street in the slowly run bumper and favourite backers also had to endure frustration in the opener as the 4 to 7 Leopard Spot yet again was a costly failure, going down by the minimum margin to Windsor Beauty.
The betting figures at Listowel were down again even though allowances have to be made for there being only seven races yesterday compared to eight in 1999. Nevertheless the bookie figure of £1,026,730 was down from £1,052,055 and the tote was down from £295,676 to £287,941.
