Barry Geraghty grabbed a big-race double in the featured Pierse Hurdle at Leopardstown this afternoon aboard 5-1 favourite Essex, who very nearly threw away a winning lead.
The unexposed five-year-old had been up with the pace for much of the valuable two-mile contest before Geraghty pushed him clear turning for home.
Essex, trained by Naas-based Michael O'Brien, bounded clear and looked like turning the €130,000 event into a procession, but he appeared to idle approaching the last flight.
Mansony had moved out of the chasing pack and nearly drew alongside the leader, but Essex pulled out more on the run-in and was a length clear at the line, with Al Eile some way back in third and Adamant Approach fourth.