Sammy Smart and Darragh O'Keeffe© Photo Healy Racing
Eight-year-old Sammy Smart (8/1) gained an overdue first win today, landing Punchestown’s See You On New Years Eve Handicap Hurdle (Div I) for patient connections trainer Tom Gibney and owner Kevin Haigney.
Initially placed over hurdles in 2022, Sammy Smart was absent for 615 days prior to this January's return and today, under Darragh O’Keeffe, raced with the leaders and eventually got the better of runner-up Comeonarchie by three-parts of a length.
Dual Irish Grand National-winner Gibney, who recently scooped HRI’s National Hunt Achievement Award, reported “it's great and I'm delighted to get the winner for Kevin (Haigney, owner) as he's been very patient. We hadn't bought him long when he got injured so was out for a while. We thought he could do that a long time ago but we got there in the end.
“He had a real solid run here before. He just seems to need plenty of time between his races, it's taken me a long time to work that out.”
Quotes from Gary Carson
