Farmer to plough Festival furrow

Farmer Brown could have booked himself a ticket to the Cheltenham Festival after landing the odds in a competitive handicap hurdle at Leopardstown on Saturday.

The Pat Hughes-trained six-year-old made a winning debut in a bumper at

Limerick two years ago but failed to hit the target in five subsequent starts.

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Hughes elected to test the water by running him in handicap company for the

first time at the weekend and was delighted to see him get his head back in

front again.

"He's perfect after it and he did it well on Saturday," he said.

"It's funny that we couldn't win a maiden hurdle but he went and won a

handicap on his first go at the weekend.

"He could possibly go for the County Handicap on the Friday at Cheltenham but

we'll see how he goes before."