WHILE southern trainers dominated the results at Downpatrick last Sunday, Draperstown’s Noel Kelly struck back landing two of the three handicap hurdles as he recorded his first racecourse double.

First off the mark over two miles, six furlongs in a race confined to mares was the Cill Iseal Syndicate’s Bracka Lily who, in the absence of Conor Orr, was ridden by Danny Mullins. Carrying 4lbs overweight, the seven-year-old Mahler bay won by three lengths.

Kelly’s double was brought up over the same trip by his wife Shauna’s Canadian Steel who justified favouritism by seven and a half lengths. Orr’s place in the saddle here was taken by Jody McGarvey who subsequently rode the 10-year-old Craigsteel gelding on Thursday at Tramore where, again despatched as favourite, he went down by half a length to the 25/1 shot, Fu’s Island.