Eoghain Ward

DATING back well over half a century, the historic Barbour Cup took centre stage at Castletown-Geoghegan on Sunday, where reigning champion jockey Barry O’Neill added his name to an illustrious list of past winners with the success of Uxizandre (1/1 - 5/4 favourite).

The now 10-year-old, a former Grade 1 winner at the Cheltenham Festival, lit up a bracingly cold afternoon with an electric round of jumping from the front on his first start for the Padraig Roche yard.

Making all of the running, the J.P. McManus-owned gelding set a searching gallop from which all bar recent Borris House scorer Samanntom struggled to cope with. When that rival loomed as a danger rounding the home bend, the short-priced favourite was really forced to dig deep, with just a head separating them at the line in the Greville Arms-sponsored race.

“I got him just after the new year and It was nice of Frank (Berry) and J.P. (McManus) to let me have him. He is a pleasure to train,” reported an understandably delighted winning handler. “He had been working well, but we were just hopeful that he was fit enough, and I would say his class got him through it more than anything else. I’m not sure what the plan is now, I’ll have to talk with Frank and J.P. and see where we go, but he is qualified for a hunter chase.”

It was O’Neill’s fellow county-man Rob James who claimed riding honours on the day with a double, initiated by the success of Gaelik Coast (2/1 - 3/1) in the opening Goffs UK Aintree Sale four-year-old maiden. The French-bred son of Coastal Path, who was picked-up by his owners, the Monbeg Syndicate, for €40,000 at the Land Rover Sale, was sent to the front in a decisive move approaching the third last, and his superior speed was soon evident as he kicked further clear from here, returning an eased-down four-length winner over Highway Companion.

With winning handler Donnchadh Doyle elsewhere on the afternoon, it was left to his brother Sean to report on the promising youngster. “He is a straightforward horse that did it well. He was a very cosy winner there and had been showing well at home. He is sales bound now.”

The Rob James double was completed in even easier fashion by Maple Flyer (6/4 - 7/4 joint-favourite) in the My Dream Boat mares’ maiden. The daughter of Flemensfirth, who sired a double on the card, was beaten 31 lengths by Executive Capilano at Ballyragget just seven days earlier, but she paid a handsome compliment to that mare when getting off the mark here by no less than 25 lengths from the Colin Bowe-trained newcomer Queen Of The Court.

A second winner of the season between the flags for her handler Martin Brassil, the well-related, John Ryan-owned seven-year-old, who is out of a half-sister to the great two-mile chaser Moscow Flyer, is entitled to take her chance under rules according to the winning rider, who was suitably impressed by the performance. “She won very well. She has a very good pedigree and was very professional today. She loved the ground, jumped well and I would say that she is a right mare now to go onto the track with.”

NOT ALONE

Maple Flyer was not alone in being turned out quickly to attain success on this card, as her feat was matched by Donjon (6/4 - 5/4) in the Tullaghansleek Stud adjacent winners race for the Frank Kiernan Memorial Cup. The winner of an adjacent maiden at Durrow just a week earlier, the Caballo Raptor gelding, who had parted company with Jamie Codd at the final fence in the four-year-old maiden on the corresponding card 12 months ago, posted an exhibition of jumping for a young horse, as he made all to defeat Star Wizard, who was carrying the colours of the meeting’s Clerk of the Scales Hugh Mulvihill by six lengths.

Victory aboard the Chris Donnelly-owned French-bred was an important winner for jockey Aaron Murphy, as it now sees him shed his 5lb claim.

“He jumped brilliantly and was always doing it nicely out there. We’ll talk to his owners and see what races might be coming up for him in the coming weeks and I would say he will go to the sales by the end of the season,” reported the winning rider of the five-year-old who is trained by his brother Ciaran.

For the third time over the weekend, the Pat Coffey colours returned to the winner’s enclosure, as the victory of Arctic Road (4/1) in the Tattersalls Ireland five-year-old geldings’ maiden, followed up a double at Loughanmore on the previous afternoon, to complete a memorable 24 hours for the Tipperary owner. Placed at both Tallow and Lingstown already this season, the Denis Murphy-trained Flemensfirth gelding was delivered late in the hands of Simon Cavanagh in a well-timed challenge to snatch victory from Noel Kelly’s newcomer James Boru.

“We were waiting for a little bit of better ground with him,” remarked Tom Cloke, the winning handler’s representative. “Simon (Cavanagh) gave him a great ride, we told him not to hit the front and he went wide around the outside and did the job.”

With his father Liam saddling a winner at Curraghmore on the same afternoon, James Kenny added to family honours on the day when bringing up a fourth career winner aboard the Claire Howes-trained Steelambition (5/1 - 3/1) in the concluding older geldings’ maiden for novice riders. Absent since finishing seventh in a Kilbeggan bumper in June, the Robin Des Pres gelding dug deep in the closing stages to carry the winning handler’s colours to a three-quarter-length victory over the now three-time runner-up Myoldman.

A return inside the rails could now be on the agenda for the six-year-old according to the Coalhill-based handler. “We had a lot of trouble with him last year, he got a nasty kick in the back of his leg and had about two months in the vets. I’m delighted with that, we might go for a bumper now.”

Returning participants

THE adjacent winners contest is a race which features many regularly returning participants, and in the 2018 renewal, the handlers of the first two home, were both previous winners of the race as jockeys. Ciaran Murphy rode back-to-back winners of it in 2005 and 2006 aboard Rathcolman Storm and Tremane Dawn. More recently, Peter Flood landed the 2012 renewal aboard race regular Jack Monday.

Free nomination

COMPAS Equine, who sponsored the mares’ maiden under the My Dream Boat banner, the Royal Ascot-winning stallion who currently stands in nearby Mullingar, will be offering Clare Joyce, the breeder of the winner, a free nomination to the stallion in a welcome gesture to breeders, who are such a vital part of the sport.

Minute’s silence

A minute’s silence was observed to remember the late Jack Ryan. Clerk of the Course for over 50 years, Ryan, who lived just a few hundred yards from the point-to-point field, celebrated his 100th birthday last year, and he was fondly remembered on the afternoon.