Jockey Richie Deegan after winning on Nurburgring© Photo Healy Racing
After a decidedly shaky start weather-wise Fairyhouse put on two fantastic days of jumping action over the weekend. The mix of old favourites and exciting new talent really does put the national hunt game on a different level to the flat from a fan’s perspective and few places do it better than Fairyhouse.
Sunday’s Grade One Hatton’s Grace Hurdle between Teahupoo and Impaire Et Passe was just about as good as it gets watching horse racing. Two highly talented horses, paired with two of the best jockeys around, jumping the last in unison and producing a thrilling finish. Nurburgring and Kala Conti in the Juvenile Hurdle was another cracker as was the finish to Sunday’s 4-y-o bumper between Petit Secret and Bleu De Vassy.
Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins only won eight races between them over the weekend which is somewhat consoling, but the big four stables again hoovered up almost all the prize money in the three Grade One contests. Of the €290,000 on offer in Sunday’s big races only €5,300 was won by stables outside of Mullins, Elliott, de Bromhead and Cromwell.
Joseph O’Brien had a remarkable weekend considering how much his focus has switched to the flat in the last two years. He ran four horses at Fairyhouse and came away with three winners and a second and in the aforementioned Nurburgring he looks to have unearthed a serious contender for Grade One honours later in the season.
JP McManus also had a good return over the weekend with five winners across the two days at Fairyhouse including I Am Maximus in the Grade One Drinmore Novices Chase. The leading owner ran 20 horses in all at Fairyhouse and to show the scale of his operation these days he has had 108 runners in total over the last 21 days.
Special mention must go to Conor Stone-Walsh on his exploits last week. The 17-y-o apprentice, who rode 23 winners on the flat this year, has switched his attention to the jumps and what a start he has made. His first ride over hurdles was a winner at Cork for his new boss Gavin Cromwell and then at Fairyhouse he also made the most of his first ride over fences, winning on Solness for his old boss Joseph O’Brien.
The teenager intends to still ride a few on the all-weather at Dundalk over the coming months, but by his own admission he has always wanted to be a jump jockey and he certainly looks to have a bright future ahead.
The opening race at Tramore last Tuesday caused quite a stir when the long odds-on favourite Jolie Coeur Allen was caught close home by Soldante.
The favourite traded at 1/50 in running as he appeared to be cruising in the lead entering the home straight with his nearest pursuer under maximum pressure. Everything changed in the last few strides as Soldante loomed up on the favourite’s outer and Mark Walsh’s late urgings on Jolie Coeur Allen couldn’t prevent the Willie Mullins’ trained runner from getting nabbed.
As has become the norm in these instances Social Media lit up with racing fans discussing the shock defeat of the favourite and many placing the blame solely on the rider for his late reaction to the threat of Soldante.
The Tramore stewards held a running and riding enquiry into the matter, but after hearing from the rider and a representative of the stable they simply noted the explanations offered and decided to take no further action.
The stewards, in common with most observers, presumably felt that Mark Walsh had misjudged the situation and reacted too late and this is why they held a running and riding enquiry in the first place.
Mark Walsh in defence of his ride said: “that his filly ran very keen throughout and never settled. He added that the two hurdles in the straight being bypassed didn't help as these would have enabled him to get a breather and as soon as he let her down she emptied.”
Everything the rider said to the stewards may be 100% accurate, but to my mind it doesn’t address the primary issue which is that it looked as if he was caught napping.
Finally, two horse racing related news stories in recent days made me smile. Firstly, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine held its third annual equine census last Thursday. 29,000 registered premises around the country have to detail not only the number of horses and ponies on their properties on that date, but also the number of donkeys, mules and zebras. It’s as if the Department has taken into account my betting history when determining the categories of equines.
Frankie Dettori being the first celebrity to get voted out of the jungle is quite curious. By all accounts (I haven’t watched it myself) he was one of the better contestants and some fans of the show now think the voting may have been rigged.
Maybe it was our friends in Listowel getting him back for reneging on his promise to ride at the harvest festival.
