KILLEENMORE Lad has returned from two years off in good heart and should soon be getting back to winning ways to judge by his run in the two-mile beginners’ chase at Roscommon on Tuesday night, writes Andy Stephens.

The Andy Slattery-trained eight-year-old briefly looked like winning between the last two fences but was unable to repel the short-priced favourite, Hashtag Pretender, a horse rated significantly higher than him over hurdles.

Killeenmore Lad had fallen at the final fence when booked for second place on his belated return at Wexford a couple of weeks earlier, but that tumble had clearly not affected his confidence.

He jumped best of all, gaining 12 lengths with his leaping and getting a Jump Index score of 8.6 out of 10. His recovery time at each of the ten fences averaged just 0.66sec and he lost only an average of 4.05mph at each obstacle, which was at least 0.75mph less than anything else in the field.

Killeemore Lad was also a fluent jumper over hurdles and a quick switch to handicap company could pay dividends.

One Way Traffic was another who got from A to B in great fashion on the card, when finishing a half-length runner-up to Il Silenzio in the three-mile and a furlong handicap chase.

He got a Jump Index score of 8.7, narrowly failing to make the most of gaining 27.92 lengths in the air. His final furlong of 13.97sec was his quickest of the race, but the winner was just a bit swifter.

The first two pulled 13 lengths clear, so can expect a hike in the weights, but One Way Traffic should still be eligible for low-grade races and if he can continue to jump with similar efficiency, then a first career win beckons.