BLUE-BLOODED novice Davy Crockett continued a flawless start to his career with an emphatic win in the Seamus Mulvaney Bookmaker Novice Hurdle - booking his ticket for the Grade 2 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at the Fairyhouse Winter Festival.
Already a Ballinrobe bumper and Galway Festival novice hurdle winner, the gelding out of legendary racemare Annie Power was sent off the 1/2 favourite to take advantage of a good opportunity for Paul Townend, Willie Mullins, J.P. McManus and Sue Magnier.
An impressive turn of foot to secure a gap down the inner once the field turned for home was the decisive moment in the two-mile event, having the race in safe keeping before jumping the final flight (where he made a mistake) and running out a four-length winner over Arch Empire. That rival ran well in the face of traffic in-running.
Mullins said: “I’m delighted with how he did that. He jumped so slick for a horse having just his second run over hurdles. He obviously takes after his mother in that way. I suppose after winning at Galway he had a following coming here.
“I can see him improving for the rest of the season and, hopefully, he can go up in grade. I’d imagine [the Grade 3 Joe Mac Novice Hurdle on October 5th at] Tipperary might come a bit soon for him and we could look at the Royal Bond instead.
“His half-brother, Mystical Power, went straight to the Moscow Flyer but he must have missed a bit of time that season and I think this is a different type of horse. He might as well go for those big prizes.”
Davy Crockett was trimmed from 14/1 to between 10/1 and 12/1 at the top of the 2026 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle betting, now joint-favourite with many firms alongside stablemate Bambino Fever.
Awesome Apache
While it was a silky display from Davy Crockett, the biggest margin of victory on the card came in the concluding Listowel Vintners Association Bumper over two and a half miles, as 7/4 favourite Apache Tribe bolted in by 16 lengths under Oran McGill for Noel Kelly.
Owner Conor McGlone paid £85,000 for the Jukebox Jury five-year-old after winning a point-to-point for Denis Murphy at Oldtown in February, and the future looks bright indeed after this much-improved display from his rules debut fifth in a Galway Festival bumper.
Kelly said: “That was some performance. It’s unreal to come to Listowel and get a winner by so far. We fancied him at Galway but the ground was probably a bit too tacky for him. I think this horse has turned inside out. It probably took the Galway run for the penny to drop with him - it hadn’t at home before then - and Galway is a good place for horses to learn. He got a bump turning for home and nothing fell right for him.
“I don’t think this horse will be sold. He’s got great owners who are very supportive of the yard. They like a good day out and we could run this horse in a maiden hurdle at Cheltenham next month, or else in a novice hurdle over two miles and seven furlongs. It took six and a half hours to bring the horse down here but an hour and 20 minutes for us by helicopter - it wasn’t too bad for us!”
DECLAN Queally is entitled to have graded-race ambitions for smart bumper performer I’ll Sort That after galloping his rivals into submission in the opening McSweeney Brothers Maiden Hurdle over two miles.
A dual bumper winner on testing ground last season, David Needham’s five-year-old defied a 156-day absence in making all on the way to a 13-length success as 11/10 favourite under Declan Queally Jr. It is rare to see a maiden hurdle field as strung out as they were in behind here.
“We had done a nice bit of schooling with him and he only missed two hurdles on the way around,” said the winning rider.
“He’s an intelligent horse with loads of scope. We were a little bit worried about the trip coming here, so I said to David that I’d buck out and keep it simple. He’s a very nice horse, stays well and I’d be hoping that he’d be a graded horse down the line. He’s a nice horse to have.”
Local joy
Odds of 18/1 suggested it may have come as a surprise, but the early market move and celebrations that followed a local success for Carla’s Pet in the two-mile-two-furlong Brandon Hotel Handicap Hurdle told a different story.
Eoin McCarthy makes no secret about targeting this meeting and delivered John Kelly’s mare in sublime shape to record her first win, having shown very little in four previous starts.
The line came in time for the two-and-a-half-length winner under Gary Noonan.
“She was 66/1 this morning and has finished up 18/1, so it’s a good day’s work,” said McCarthy. “Our first two runners of the week here have finished first and second, so we couldn’t be any happier. Gary gave her a great ride.
“We wanted to ride her a bit handier, but the pace was strong from the word go and Gary used his head. It worked out well. It’s a relief more than anything to have a winner here.”
Tough performance
Conditional jockey Paddy Hanlon will soon be joining the Nicky Henderson team and was seen to good effect in partnering his first Listowel Harvest Festival winner on the John McConnell-trained Cloonainra.
It was a bold performance from the chasing debutante against more experienced rivals in the two-mile-three-and-a-half-furlong Ballygarry Estate Hotel and Spa Mares Novice Chase, sent for home earlier than most but jumping with purpose and keeping on well enough to beat the 122-rated Enjoy The Dream by two and three-quarter lengths.
The former point-to-point winner, owned by Pauline Conlon and the BK Vets Partnership, didn’t go unbacked at 100/30.
Hanlon said: “She was very good. I thought she jumped very well for her chasing debut. She’s classy. She’ll probably make a better chaser than she did a hurdler. I thought she was my best chance of the meeting - I can’t thank John and connections enough for putting me up.”