Glen Kiln was a deserving winner of the Naas Racecourse Business Club Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas.
The seven-year-old carries the side of the Bowe family, made famous by the hugely popular Limestone Lad, who won 35 races over the course of a fantastic career including three Morgiana Hurdles, three Hatton’s Grace Hurdles and a hat-trick of wins in this Grade Three competition between 2000 and 2002.
Although Glen Kiln (4-1) still has a long way to go to scale those lofty heights, Harry Kelly’s charge was second only to Lossiemouth in the Morgiana at Punchestown in November and after covering every yard of the run over the two miles he well outfoxed Brian Hayes to beat the heavy favorite Karbau by a length.
Michael Bowe, whose father trained James Limestone Lad and also landed this race twice with superstar mare Solerina (2004 and 2006) and with Sweet Kiln, was emotional in the aftermath, saying: “I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t walk, all I could do was cry.
“You breed them and you breed them and bring them here, I’m very happy with it.
“People kept saying you’ll never have anyone like him again (Limestone Lad), but this guy is close to that, he’ll improve again and he’ll be some kind of fighter.
“It doesn’t get any better than this. These days are hard to find and when they come, you want to enjoy them.”
Kelly added: “You couldn’t have written the script. It’s great for Michael and John (Bowe).
“I am so happy with a horse like him and we think he will be a very good hunter next year.
“We’ll see how he’s doing tomorrow morning and then make plans with him.”
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