Barry seen to good effect opening his account as a pro Brian Barry partnered his first winner since turning professional at Christmas when Hesgonethatway took the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle in decisive fashion at Naas. The Philip Rothwell-trained 12/1 chance was patiently ridden to lead approaching the final flight and drew clear on the run-in to score by 11 lengths. Moudan, who couldn’t find any extra when headed by the winner, took the runner-up spot with Fairyland Opera a further nine lengths back in third. Barry rode three winners under Rules as an amateur as well as eight winners in point-to-points and is the younger brother of amateur Johnny Barry. Rothwell said, “He’s a big raw horse, a big weak horse. At one stage last year I was nearly thinking of pulling the plug on him and then we gave him the summer off. “They are a great bunch of lads (Night Owls Syndicate) to train for. They were hugely patient with him and he’s just improved as the winter has gone on. “He’s a weak five-year-old and hopefully he’ll keep improving away. “I thought he’d run well today but I thought there would be an older, stronger, horse that would handle the ground a little bit better and that we might be placed. “To be fair to Brian, he gave him a very good ride. I told him to take his time and go wide. “I’m delighted for Brian as well. He rang me a few weeks ago to see if there would be a position in the yard for him. “He’s just coming to me a day a week. I told him maybe next October we might use him a little bit more or have him in the yard a little bit more. “At the moment we have a very happy settled camp, so the only position was for somebody to ride in a 7lb claimers race. That was his first ride for me so hopefully he’ll be happy.” Quotes by Gary Carson
