Alpha Male easily lands Bishopscourt Cup

The KFM Hunter Chase for the Bishopscourt Cup is one of the more low key events of the Punchestown Festival meeting being restricted to horses owned by local farmers and Alpha Male took this year’s renewal with considerable ease.

Peter Maher saddled three of the ten runners and scored with the 2/1 second favourite.

The seven-year-old gelding cruised past the front-running favourite Das Mooser who was bidding to land this prize for the second successive year, and stayed on strongly under Barry O’Neill.

Alpha Male had 30 lengths to spare over Premier King with the favourite weakening to finish another length and a quarter back in third.

Just four of the ten completed the two and a half miles course.

Maher said, “They have to be jumped and I never thought that Enniskillen would have fallen (in the Ladies Cup on Tuesday). It doesn’t matter if you have a good horse if they can’t jump around.

“Enniskillen is fine and I actually schooled him over banks myself this morning and I was going to line him up for tomorrow but all the girls were crying at me. He’ll be back to fight another day.”