IF you thought the battle was fought tooth-and-nail up the Ballybrit hill in the 2025 Guinness Galway Hurdle, it was probably an even more intense and prolonged set-to that unfolded at the appeal hearing against the stewards’ demotion Helvic Dream this week.

The headline takeaway from the near two-hour sit down at Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board headquarters on Wednesday was that Ndaawi ultimately kept the €270,000 Galway feature, but there was a real feeling of ebb and flow in the room throughout the sitting - it really could have gone either way. The fact Noel Meade was refunded his €500 deposit for lodging the challenge reflects that.