DIEGO GOES FAST TO LAND RAMSBOTTOM MEMORIAL

Ian Fortune

Hello Diego produced a massive run to emerge a comfortable winner of the Billy & Mary Ramsbottom Memorial at Kilkenny on Friday night. Sent off the 5-4 favourite after some encouraging efforts in the early rounds, he was headed into the turn by Sober Secret but soon got racing.

Jackeen Chick was also prominent on the outside of the track but his chances were gone once suffering traffic on the second turn. Sober Secret continued to lead the field into the back straight but Paul Hynes’ Hello Diego was moving with purpose before taking over at halfway.

Once going to the front, the Paul Hennessy trained son of Jaytee Yankee and Darver Bridie quickly put the result beyond doubt. Showing massive back straight pace, he powered home to emerge a comfortable five lengths winner in a superb 28.70. Sober Secret finished second with Jackeen Chick another eight lengths adrift in third.

The manner in which Hello Diego dispatched his rivals would suggest he can now say goodbye to graded company. There seems no doubt he has a big future and will find himself in deeper waters in the very near future.