Published: Wednesday, 31st December, 2008 12:00pm

Late Christmas for Cavan horse trainer

CAVAN horse trainer Oliver McKiernan received a late Christmas present last Saturday when his charge Follow the Plan tore up the script to land a major shock in the €120,000 Durkan New Homes Novice Chase at the prestigious Leopardstown meeting.

Under jockey John Cullen, McKiernan"s horse stayed on well to pip favourite Tatenen, from the mighty Paul Nicholls yard in England, at odds of 12/1 following a tremendous battle. Ironically, McKiernan almost didn"t allow the horse to take his chance after an indifferent build-up.

'The horse didn"t work as well as he can earlier in the week so I was in two minds about running him at all. So I threw him out in a field for a couple of days and that seemed to freshen him up!' beamed the delighted Lacken native, now based in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, after the race.

As well as owning a string of horses, McKiernan, whose construction company is Cavan Developments, has also enjoyed success as a trainer, with the latest his biggest of all. Despite huge market confidence behind the English raider and hot favourite Tatenen (4/6), Follow The Plan clung on to take first by a short head infront of a bumper crowd of 16,744, many of whom, presumably, had backed the odds-on 'jolly'.

'It was a great battle and my fella stuck at it really well,' McKiernan explained.

'I didn"t expect him to be too strong for that horse - but I"m glad he was.'

McKiernan"s other big hope for the festival, Whatuthink, was touched out by a short head on Sunday in the Grade Tow Woodies DIY Christmas Hurdle.