GORDON Elliott racked up a first and last race double on Thursday’s Clonmel card, initiated by Runfordave who made short work of accounting for his four rivals in the Munster Hurdle.
Taking it up under Jack Kennedy off the last bend, Pat Sloan’s 2/5 favourite was being shaken up before the last but sealed the issue with a bold jump and was pushed out for a comfortable 11-length success over Ben Dundee.
The trainer’s assistant Ollie Murphy said: “He was entitled to win and he’s improving the whole time. I’d imagine we’ll look at the Coral Cup or the Martin Pipe opportunity race and I’d be surprised if he runs again before then.
“The same owners Pat and Joe Sloan from Northern Ireland have The Storyteller in the Martin Pipe race and whatever he does this year is a bonus. He wants two and a half miles plus and Jack said he’ll be a better horse in better ground.”
SMOOTH WIN
Stable-companion Monkshood, with Lisa O’Neill in the saddle, followed up for Elliott when landing a touch (3/1 into 9/4) for Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud in the Powerstown Flat Race.
Market leader Arvico Bleu carried the same owner’s first colours and raced at the head of affairs, but had no reply once headed by the eventual winner well over a furlong down. Monkshood opened up from there to strike by 12 lengths from Arvico Bleu, with the easy-to-back newcomer Iolani plugging on to take third.
Murphy commented: “He’s a good honest horse, a typical good looking Gigginstown horse who’ll make a chaser next year. He handled the conditions well and I’d imagine we’ll keep him as a novice for this year.”
Not to be outdone, Iolani’s handler Willie Mullins also came away from the meeting with a brace of short-priced maiden hurdle winners, courtesy of Kate Appleby Shoes and Chambord Du Lys.
Both mares were ridden by Ruby Walsh, but there the similarity ends as they prevailed by contrasting margins. Whereas the 9/10 favourite Kate Appleby Shoes had to work hard for her head victory over Awayinthewest in the Demesne Mares Maiden Hurdle, stable-mate Chambord Du Lys, the 1/4 favourite, had a far easier time of it in the Clonmel Maiden Hurdle when coasting home six and a half lengths clear of the long-time leader Monbeg Chit Chat.
Kate Appleby Shoes, owned by Leo McArdle from Castleblaney who runs a successful shoe business called Shoe City, relished the heavy ground.
Named after one of the shoes in his extensive range, the Flemensfirth mare was second in three bumpers in very heavy ground, but was then sidelined for two years with tendon trouble.
Her jockey remarked: “She’s tough and she battled well. She stays well and is honest, too, which is always a help.” Mullins added: “She’ll go out in trip. She’s a good jumper and she’s a mare who’ll jump a fence next year.”
The French-bred Chambord Du Lys kept the pot boiling for the Mullins camp with her facile success for the Supreme Horse Racing Club and New York based investment banker Brett Graham, who has shares in about nine of the club’s horses, half an hour later.
“She’s just been unlucky before, so it’s nice to get the win today,” said her trainer. “I’ll just wait for better ground with her – she’s able to handle it at that level but, to improve, she’d need it better.”
TIME TO SHINE
Former champion Davy Russell got his name on the score sheet when teaming up with Toomevara owner/trainer James Grace to take the Nire Valley Handicap Chase with 7/1 chance De Benno who made every post a winning one on his 14th attempt over fences.
Having unseated his rider at the last meeting here, the 10-year-old grey was suited by the change of tactics and was kept up to his work to contain the challenge of market fancy All The Chimneys by a neck.
Grace observed: “That’s Davy’s first time to ride for me and he did the trick. We never went out in front before, but those tactics worked and he’ll go for something similar – he loves that heavy old ground.”
It was Conna trainer Seamus Spillane’s turn to shine with the ultra-consistent Goulane Davina who finally got her turn in the day’s most valuable event, the Kilsheelan Beginners Chase.
Carrying the red and white colours of her Ring, Co Waterford owner/breeder Mary O’Donnell, the 9/2 shot was left in front when the favourite Double Island blundered and unseated his rider at the penultimate fence.
Seizing the opportunity, Goulane Davina was not going to be denied and found more on the run-in to give her rider Barry John Foley the 11th track winner of his career by half a length from Logical Song.
O’Donnell, who intends to breed from the mare when her racing days are over, enthused: “She’s very versatile and seems to go on any type of ground and distance. The Spillanes have a small yard, with everyone involved and they’re like a family to me.”
The trainer’s son Dinny later reported: “We just chanced running her, even though it was a bit soon after Fairyhouse, because it was for horses rated 116 or less over hurdles.”
Cork trainer Denise O’Shea does well with her small string and sent out Damien Skehan’s mount Zipporah to spring a 10/1 surprise in the Kilmolash (QR) 80-95 Handicap Hurdle with an all-the-way six and a half-length victory over the hot-pot Rock On Barney.
O’Shea reflected: “She won four races before she came to me in September time, but has been off for two years with a leg injury. Her Tipperary owner Michael Mee, who has a couple of horses with me, has been very patient and she’s a cracking mare to have.
“Johnny Clifford, who works for me and has done an awful lot of work with her, deserves a lot of the credit, too, as does Damien Skehan who stole the race. She’s tough and is in the ladies hurdle at Thurles next Thursday.”
ACTING STEWARDS
J.G. Moloney, P. Coveney, M. J. Murphy, M.F. O’Donoghue.
HORSE TO FOLLOW:
AWAYINTHEWEST (P.A. Fahy): A winner of a Fairyhouse bumper in very heavy ground, she looks to be a progressive mare who only narrowly lost out to Kate Appleby Shoes in the mares’ maiden hurdle. Sure to be winning before long.
Suspension
JOCKEY Ambrose McCurtin was suspended for five days and ordered to forfeit his riding fee for being in breach of Rule 212a (ii) at a running and riding inquiry into Princess Mahler in the mares’ maiden hurdle, at which her trainer John Joe Walsh would not say he was satisfied with the ride as he felt the rider should have used the whip