Lon Chaney was extremely unlucky not to have made a winning debut at Castlelands last season as he had the lead coming to the final fence only to unseat his rider when seemingly having the race at his mercy. He was turned out a month later at Dromahane in testing conditions, but returning recently at Rathcannon on nicer ground, he returned to the promise of his initial effort, only denied by a narrow margin. Racing from the front, and contributing to a time that was nine seconds quicker than the average on the card, he showed a good turn of foot climbing from the penultimate fence, as the front pair pulled clear of their rivals. Loosing little in defeat to a well-backed newcomer, he should be opening his account in the near future.