SPRUCE LEE COMES GOOD

O'Brien keeps his old-timer sweet enough to score a famous Festival success

- By Melissa Jones

PERSISTENCE paid off for “hard as nails” Home By The Lee as the old man of the party stunned at 33-1 in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle.

The 11-year-old faced the starter for the fifth time, finishing sixth, fifth, third and unseating JJ Slevin in an unlucky trip in front of the stands a year ago.

Only 13-2 on that occasion, support for Joseph O’Brien-trained Home By The Lee had dwindled in a field which contained the last two winners, Bob Olinger and Teahupoo, plus a couple unexposed at long distances.

But owner Sean O’Driscoll’s homebred showed age was just a number, finding stacks for pressure in his usual blinkers to fend off a host of challengers.

In a race of changing fortunes, Kabral Du Mathan loomed up and blocked off Ballyburn at the final flight, with both trading at short odds.