THE unbeaten Grade 3 winner and leading Cheltenham Festival hope Honeysuckle started her racing life with a trailblazing victory at Dromahane last season in the colours of Mark and Sara O’Hare, and just 10 months on, the pair look to have introduced another very smart recruit in the shape of Power Of Pause (4-5/1).

Bought for €28,000 at last summer’s Goffs Land Rover Sale by the former northern champion alongside Patrick Turley, a rising star of the handler ranks, the Doyen gelding powered clear early in the home straight to win the four-year-old maiden by six lengths over Colin Bowe’s staying-on Imperial Flem.

With winning handler Turley leading up the chesnut, it was the winning rider who spoke very favourably of the impressive newcomer.

“He was great there, his work has been good at home and we really love him, but sure everyone is first time out so nobody has a clue. We were confident enough to come for this race as he was doing everything easy enough at home and he will go to the sales now.”

Bowe did have some compensation in the following five-year-old geldings’ maiden when Rainbow Chaser (4-6/1) put the experience that he has garnered from no fewer than four starts within the past six weeks to prevail in a bunched finish that saw the first five horses flash past the post within four lengths of each other.

The Larry Dunne-owned Stowaway gelding got the verdict on this occasion by a length and a half over Donnchadh Doyle’s The Strap Man, as Wexford-trained horses accounted for four of the first five finishers.

The winning handler indicated that the Barry O’Neill-ridden bay gelding may now be offered for sale.

CHALLENGERS

While Gordon Elliott’s Kruzhlinin sits at the top of the leading point-to-pointer table, his two biggest challengers are both resident in Sam Curling’s Skehanagh Stables, and Some Are Lucky (6/4-2/1 favourite) moved within one winner of his stablemate Longhouse Music with a fourth success of the season and second within the space of seven days in the open.

With regular partner Gerry Spain in the saddle, the eight-year-old made his move approaching the straight and proved four lengths too good over the ultra-consistent Samanntom to follow up his Oldtown success of a week earlier.

“We’ll start dreaming now. There’s not much on the cards for him in March so we might sneak an entry into Cheltenham for him. He deserves it, but whether he goes or not, remains to be seen as we might wait for something a bit later in the spring,” reported the Tipperary-based pharmacist of the Curling-owned eight-year-old.

REMARKABLE

Shane Byrne’s remarkable season got even better when he sent out his fourth winner of the campaign from just five runners when Thunder Dragon (6-3/1), who was one of two horses incorrectly listed on the declarations board which understandably caused considerable confusion within the betting ring before the off, drew clear in the home straight to claim the mares’ maiden.

Well-related, being out of a half-sister to Felix Yonger, who enjoyed his greatest day with a Grade 1 success at the same venue four years earlier, the Kalanisi mare defeated Bannixtown Glory by six lengths in the hands of Simon Cavanagh.

“The horses are all flying now thank God. I gave her a spin around Dungarvan for the experience and she blew up coming to the last and Harley (Dunne) sat up on her and let her coast home. It really sharpened her up. I think she is a proper mare and she has a lovely pedigree,” reported the Blackwater-based handler of the five-year-old owned by Peter Byrne.

Enniskillen made his first appearance in the Kildare Farmers Hunt race seven years ago when he finished second of 17 starters.

While the size of the field has shrunk dramatically in the intervening years, he has remained ever present and was contesting the race for the sixth occasion, going in search of a fourth straight victory.

However, the now 14-year-old veteran had to give way on this occasion, with the slow pace of the race not playing to his favour, and it was his younger stable companion Change Your Story (2-5/1) who upheld honours for the Peter Maher yard.

The lightly raced Valerie Maher-owned eight-year-old, who had defeated the now leading open performer Fenno’s Storm to win a Dromahane maiden in 2016, picked up best in the hands of Tiernan Roche to defeat Cagliostro by two and a half lengths, with Enniskillen having to settle for third.

“He had a touch of a leg, so we gave him a year off. He did it well there and will go for the Tetretema now,” commented the Donore-based winning handler.

FINALE

The small crowd that remained for the finale were treated to a dramatic older geldings’ maiden, as Orpen Wells looked set to provide Stephen Connor with a first victory back from injury when crashing out at the last, and bringing the challenging Fiddler Of Dooney with him.

That presented the seemingly well-held Ted (5/2-3/1) with the race, and he returned six lengths clear of Dontgetfooledagain, as Rob James rode his first winner for fellow Wexford handler Liam Kenny.

It was a popular success, as the 10-year-old carried the colours of Lorcan Higgins and was bred by his father, also named Lorcan.

“My father bred him and he does all the work with him. He goes down to Liam (Kenny) the whole time and rides him out and Ted is his baby,” reported the winning owner.

“It’s a great day for the horse and Dad, so we’ll be sure to celebrate it.”

HORSE TO FOLLOW

BRIEF AMBITION (P Flood): This good-looking son of Yeats had seemed to have made a decisive move to the front approaching the last only to scupper his chances with a costly final fence error.

O’Sullivan suffers broken vertebrae

FORMER ladies champion Aileen O’Sullivan was in the wars on Sunday, when she was hospitalised following a heavy fall from Junius Brutus in the open.

The Meath-based rider suffered a broken vertebra in the seventh-fence fall and is expected to be on the sidelines for eight weeks.

Big field for maiden

THE four-year-old maiden at Punchestown is always a race that is keenly awaited, and there was particular interest in the 2019 renewal when it attracted its biggest field size in 10 years.

Gainford gunning for first success

FIRST season rider Jordan Gainford is certainly receiving notable support from leading handlers Colin Bowe and Donnchadh Doyle as the Wexford native finished second for both in the day’s four-year-old maiden and five-year-old geldings’ maiden, on what were just his fourth and fifth competitive rides.

Gainford only made his point-to-point debut in December.

He seems to be a rider to note as he closes in on a first success.