The lightly-raced seven-year-old was a very promising novice a couple of seasons ago and despite missing the whole of the last campaign through injury, was sent off an 8/1 chance to pick up where he left off in this sphere under Philip Enright.
He was held up right at the back of the 10-runner field on his first ever start over three miles and gradually crept into proceedings three flights from the finish.
When Mary Frances appeared like she may have slipped the field, Enright became more animated on Sams Profile but the front-running mare weakened on the run between the final two obstacles, leaving Sams Profile and old foe Diol Ker (who he'd beaten a couple of lengths in a point-to-point in their youth) to fight it out.
Both horses tired quickly on the heavy ground and the local stewards looked into potential interference between the front two after Sams Profile appeared to edge across fellow 8/1 chance Diol Ker, forcing him to the outside, but they were satisfied with the result.
Mouse Morris' runner dug deep in the closing stages to eventually win the argument by half a length, with 11 lengths back to the third home, Sixshooter (11/2).
Sky Bet reacted by cutting the winner - who had run twice over fences earlier this season including a solid third behind the hugely exciting Monkfish - to 25/1 from 100/1 for the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March. Betfair and Paddy Power, who both offer Non-Runner No-Bet on the Festival races, went 16/1 from 66/1.
Morris, who won the Galmoy Hurdle with his former Gold Cup hero War Of Attrition in 2010, said of Sams Profile: “He hasn’t been easy and fractured ribs at Thurles from the horrible fall he got and he ran with it afterwards.
“He bled when he got home after his Fairyhouse run and it was the vets who found it. He bruised his lungs and we gave him box rest.
“He is as tough as old boots and it was just one of those things in Thurles, but it got too late in the year (to continue novice chasing). He had a couple of good runs, but isn’t the luckiest horse in the world. The Stayers’ Hurdle will be pencilled in now.”
The trainer was keen to praise Enright, adding: “Being quite frank with you, I thought maybe he was a bit far back at the top of the hill, but you have to take it off to him – he is a cool dude.
“He was dead right and I was wrong.”
