Gamble landed as Jon Ess returns to winning ways

Conor O'Dwyer was responsible for the greatest Irish gamble of the 21st century with D Four Dave at Kilbeggan in 2010 and today the holidaying trainer sent out Jon Ess to land a sizeable gamble, from his Tenerife 'lair', in the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Handicap at Dundalk today.

The O'Dwyer trained D Four Dave hit national headlines with an audacious and successful gamble carried out by the horse's owner Douglas Taylor at Kilbeggan in June 2010 and today the popular trainer's Jon Ess was the subject of sustained support before winning the 1m2f race under jockey Bill Lee.

Carrying the colours of the Brinkleys Syndicate, the six year old was today reverting from an unplaced run over hurdles at Christmas and having opened 20/1 this morning, was backed through the day before opening a 7/1 chance on-track. Jon Ess was the subject of sustained support and was eventually returned the 4/1 favourite.

In the race, the son of Dragon Pulse raced prominently throughout and having moved to the front with a furlong to race, stayed on well to beat Gougane Barra by a length and a quarter.

Afterwards winning jockey Bill Lee reported “I was talking to Conor (O'Dwyer) earlier on the phone and he told me to get out and get a nice position to make the visor work for him. He wore it for the first time and it seems to have done the trick. He was just getting a bit cute.

“The handicapper has given him a bit of a chance as he won here before off 83 (raced from 76 today) over a mile. He’s probably lost that little edge for over a mile and can run over this trip or a mile and a half.

“He’s been a good horse to me and I’ve won three on him now. He’s a great little horse to ride and when he’s on song like that, he’s hard to pass.”

The 2010 D Four Dave gamble involved 200 couriers, employed by owner Douglas, being sent to separate locations around Dublin and Kildare in an intricate plan which was estimated to have cost bookmakers E500,000.

Quotes from Alan Magee