McCoy doubles up on well-backed McManus pair

Tony McCoy?s partnership with J P McManus got off to a sticky start this season but the pair teamed up for a welcome high profile success on the final day of the Fairyhouse Easter meeting when Like-A-Butterfly landed the Powers Gold Cup.

The Christy Roche-trained mare was all the rage in the two and a half miles Grade 1 chase, backed from 11/2 down to 7/2 favourite, and responded gamely to McCoy?s urgings in the straight to overhaul Forget The Past in the closing stages for a half length success.

Watson Lake traveled sweetly into the straight for Paul Carberry but could find no extra when asked for an effort and finished six lengths further adrift in third.

?She?s a great mare and ones like her only come along so often. She was very sick over Christmas, losing a lot of weight, and I don?t think she was firing on all cylinders at Cheltenham,? said Roche before adding, ?There are a few options for her at Punchestown between two and two and a half miles although I wouldn?t run her on firm ground. I?d hope to have her back next season.?

McCoy replaced the injured David Casey on McManus? Ground Ball - also heavily supported to 15/8 favourite - in the Blue Square Dan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase, and the gelding benefitted from a typically powerful drive by the champion. The Charlie Swan-trained eight-year-old and Central House set a blistering gallop, and it nearly proved their undoing as Ulaan Baatar came from well off the pace to get within half a length.

?He?s got a great cruising speed but ran a bit keen and is better in a fast run race where you can drop him in. He had a hard race but, if he comes out of it okay, he?ll probably go to Punchestown,? said Swan.

Justified was another beaten at Cheltenham to enjoy success on the afternoon as Dusty Sheehy?s charge took the Menolly Homes Novice Hurdle. The Railway Man, well-backed down to 15/8 favouritism, set the pace but had no answer when headed between the final two flights by Shay Barry?s mount who went on to score by two lengths.

?He got very wound up in the stables at Cheltenham, and didn?t settle at all in the race. The cut in the ground probably suited him today, and if he has another race this season it will be at Punchestown. We haven?t schooled him over fences yet but, with so many good hurdlers around, he?ll probably go over fences next season,? said Sheehy.

He also reported that Carraig Blue is unlikely to race again after sustaining a serious tendon injury here yesterday.

The Menolly Homes Handicap Hurdle proved a real family affair with Philip Carberry edging out his sister Nina as their uncle Arthur Moore trained a 1-2. Philip made all aboard 20/1 outsider Bon Temps Rouler, and the six-year-old French-bred gelding found plenty when strongly tackled by 7/2 favourite Mansony in the straight to prevail by three quarters of a length.

?Luckily the ground came up very gluey at Cork over the weekend as that?s where he would have gone. He can?t handle very heavy ground. He?s a horse we?ve always thought a bit of but I just couldn?t get him right last year. He could be a Galway Hurdle type, and will probably run through the summer,? said Moore, who felt the concession of 17lb just proved too much for Mansony.

Levitator booked his place in the line-up for the Champion 4YO Hurdle at Punchestown next month after making an impressive jumping debut in the Weatherbys Ireland GSB Hurdle. The Sadler?s Wells gelding was set on off the home turn by leading claimer Tom Ryan to beat Tous Les Tables by four and a half lengths.

Alan Magee