KEVIN Power left Stradbally last Sunday with a double but may well have been thinking about the ‘what if’ as the Limerick rider from only four rides was beaten a neck and a half-length on his other two mounts which could have seen him leave the venue with a clean sweep and a first four-timer.

The opening DBS Spring Sales five-year-old geldings’ maiden went to the Timmy Hyde-trained The Tailor Quigley (7/4) who narrowly came out on top in a three-way finish where the trio were covered by less than a length.

Harley Dunne aboard Pride Of The Parish and Richie Deegan on Shempas Iron challenged strongly on the short run from the final fence to the line but Power had enough in reserve to prevail aboard the son of Generous.

This winner is out of a dual-winning mare on the flat in France and has shown improvement with each outing. He pulled up on his debut at Borris in December and was then second at Belclare to Strong Pursuit before winning here on his third start.

He is expected to be Doncaster bound again following this victory as it was through that sales ring that Hyde had originally acquired this gelding.

In the Hume Family adjacent maiden race, Power took the mount on Kick Start (5/2) for Rory O’Meara and had a considerably easier task here as this 10-year-old broke his maiden on his debut between the flags having had 15 track starts.

This was a notable training performance as his previous start was all of 467 days ago when he finished last in a January 2014 hurdle at Thurles.

However, his victory should not have been a huge surprise as he had finished third in a bumper behind Annie Power at Galway in August 2012 when only beaten seven lengths.

Power looked set for another tight battle to match those on his other three rides at the meeting but Ballyfore Cross and Roger Quinlan exited at the last allowing this veteran to coast to success. The winning handler who is based on Tipperary indicated that he would now return to the track for a summer campaign.

DOUBLE FORM

Another rider in double form at the meeting was Rob James who has been enjoying a successful few weeks and is now sixth in the overall standings having leapfrogged Noel McParlan with this brace.

The Colin Bowe-trained Cooper’s Friend (4/1) opened his account for the day in the McLoughlins Super Valu, Portarlington six-year-old geldings’ maiden. A well-bred son of Kayf Tara, this fellow is a half-brother to Asigh Pearl who was a blacktype achieving three-time winner with Noel Meade.

Patrick Doyle owns Cooper’s Friend and bought him as a foal and Doyle often uses the Cooper prefix on his runners. He did have to sweat here as the Edward O’Grady-trained Swizzler closed very quickly at the line.

Having made all the running it would have been tough to miss out on the line and the judge, who was one of the busiest officials on the day, called the result in his favour by half a length. He made his debut in December at Dromahane this was only his second start and he will now go to the sales.

Arguably the most impressive performance of the day came in the concluding Tom Wrafter Agri older mares’ maiden where James secured his double aboard the Paul Pierce-trained Longreinjayne (7/1).

This daughter of Arcadio, owned by Jayne Furlong, was making her fifth appearance between the flags and showed a notable improvement here to win in the manner of a smart mare.

She quickened clear two out where a mistake almost unshipped her rider but the reigning novice champion held his balance and was soon back in the saddle to race clear to the last.

The winning handler put the improvement down to the sounder surface as she has been showing a decent level of ability in her home work for some time. The application of a hood and more restrained tactics were also offered as possible reasons for the improvement and she is now Doncaster bound.

Sam Curling was at Oldcastle saddling Ross Na Righ to win the open at the Meath venue under Jamie Codd but he was also responsible for the open winner at this venue as his evergreen 13-year-old Klassy (1/2 favourite), carrying the Peter Curling colours, scored yet again and is proving a very effective good ground performer.

Roger Quinlan took the mount and made most of the running. Just as he had done under Derek O’Connor at Rathmorrissey, he put in a near foot perfect round of jumping which put his rivals out of their comfort zone.

Kevin Power aboard the Edward O’Grady-trained Slieveardagh came to challenge at the second last and looked a real threat but the winner has lost none of his enthusiasm and held on gamely by a neck.

NINE-WINNER MARK

Both Quinlan and Curling are now on the nine-winner mark for the season and with an artillery of open ammunition, there is sure to be more to come in the remaining weeks.

Vincent Devereux and Shane O’Rourke combined to take the Castle Arms Hotel winners of two with I Wonder Why (8/11), in the colours of James Devereux.

The son of Publisher had shown ability in maidens and he got off the mark at the fourth attempt at Glenbane when left clear at the last in November.

Two placed efforts in winners’ races since have been followed by two victories and he is now one of the most consistent horses of the season with three wins and three placings from only seven runs.

In winning, he had to fend off a very strong challenge from Done En Dusted who only recently returned from a near three-year layoff and seems to have recaptured his best form but couldn’t quite match this in-form winner.

The winning handler didn’t rule out a summer campaign for this winner who is very effective on sound surfaces.

Swizzler narrowly missed out on making his point-to-point debut a winning one for the Edward O’Grady team in the six-year-old maiden but that should ensure he is very hard to beat next time.