Presenting Percy excites Davy Russell after perfect chasing debut

Davy Russell is excited to find out what Presenting Percy can achieve this season following his sparkling debut over fences at Galway.

The six-year-old provided trainer Pat Kelly with a second successive victory in the Pertemps Final at last season's Cheltenham Festival, following in the hoofprints of Mall Dini.

He had his stablemate and several other talented performers behind when scoring with a degree of ease at Ballybrit last week and Russell could not have been more impressed.

Speaking at a National Hunt season preview at the Ardboyne Hotel in Navan, the leading jockey said: "He's a lovely horse, I really like him, and he's a horse with lot of ability. He's a 159-rated hurdler and he jumps fences really, really well.

"He took really well to jumping a fence and was a joy to ride.

"He's versatile trip-wise. I'd say Pat wouldn't really want to be emptying him on very testing ground.

"He's not over-big, not that robust and not your typical chaser, but he does have a lot of ability and is a gorgeous horse. He's a lovely horse to have anything to do with."

Russell added: "Going down into the dip in Galway, he'd put in a fantastic round of jumping, and he took a big heave. I said then 'we've done things really, really nice'.

"He was very good at the second-last and then winged the last. He really attacked the hill.

"I thought the runner-up (De Plotting Shed) was going to come and have another go at me, but to be fair to my lad, he ran into the hill really well. He's a horse that really enjoys racing."