Grade One glory for The Yellow Clay in the mud at Naas

The Yellow Clay extended his unbeaten record for the season to four with a facile victory in the Lawlor's of Naas Novice Hurdle.

A high-class bumper performer last season, Gordon Elliott’s six-year-old made a smart start to his career over hurdles at Down Royal before landing Grade Three and Grade Two prizes at Navan.

He was an 11-4 shot to successfully graduate to Grade One level in the hands of Sam Ewing and ultimately did so with relative ease.

With fellow Elliott runner Wingmen deployed in a pacesetting role, The Yellow Clay raced in third for much of the two-and-a-half-mile contest before joining his stablemate at the top of the home straight.

The Yellow Clay was travelling much the best jumping the second flight from the finish and soon kicked clear, safely negotiating the last before galloping up the run-in to seal an eight-length verdict.

Supersundae emerged best of four runners for Willie Mullins, making late gains to beat Wingmen to the runner-up spot.

The disappointment of the race was last season’s Champion Bumper hero Jasmin De Vaux, who beat two subsequent Leopardstown winners despite jumping poorly on his hurdling debut at Navan a month ago, but could not get away with it in this company and finished a well beaten fourth as the 11-8 favourite.

An impressive display from The Yellow Clay who takes gold in the Grade 1 @LawlorsNaas Novice Hurdle, striding clear in the closing stages for the combination of Sam Ewing and @gelliott_racing