Act puts on a show in Fairyhouse’s finale Shanroe Act (morning 12s, to 9/2f) benefitted from a tactical about-turn today, leaving behind poor form to provide jockey Dan King with a Fairyhouse double in the concluding William Hill Each Way Extra Series Handicap Hurdle. Held up in rear in nine previous starts and hampered when pulling up at Cork in December, lightly-raced eight-year-old Shanroe Act carried form figures of ‘00008-50-7P’ into today’s race, for which he was ridden more optimistically. Electing to make the running, King sent his mount clear from the second-last with the pair scoring comfortably by nine lengths from Wakey Wakey Man . Winning trainer Karl Thornton revealed “In Cork the last day, Donagh (Meyler, jockey) went to jump off and make the running, but ended up out the back of 25 runners. It was atrocious ground, mud just kept hitting him in the face and he could never get him to go forward. “It suited well today, as he got a nice easy lead in front. He jumped well, he’s good and fit and straight and he was down off bottom weight. “Today, on that ground ,he was able to get his own way in front and it made a big difference.” Jockey King had earlier scored on the Mark Molloy-trained Welluknow, while Thornton’s previous winner A Year Older had fittingly come here on New Year’s Day. Quotes from Gary Carson
