Colm Quinn BMW Mile
Handicap
EVEN by his own amazing standards Willie Mullins orchestrated a sporting comeback of epic proportions as Riven Light defied all the odds to somehow make it back-to-back wins in the week’s most valuable flat handicap.
A year ago Riven Light looked a pattern-class horse in the making when winning this prize, and given what he has endured since then, he might well be a Group 1 horse as this was a comeback for the ages.
Mullins has masterminded some remarkable revivals in his time but this was surely one of his finest moments.
The Ricci-owned six-year-old, aboard whom Danny Mullins was notching up his second win in the race, hadn’t run since sustaining a serious injury in an Australian Group 1 last October.
In addition to his absence from the track, Riven Light had to contend with top weight of 10st 1lb and a mark that was 16lbs higher than the one he raced off 12 months ago.
COFFIN DRAW
Furthermore, he had to overcome a coffin draw in stall 18, but in truth none of this mattered. The quality and class he demonstrated last autumn burns at least as brightly as ever and his next appearance is eagerly awaited.
Danny Mullins also overcame a wide draw on his father Tony’s Rock And Roll Kid in 2009 and on this occasion his mount broke alertly to take up a reasonable position from early on.
The son of Raven’s Pass was always travelling well on the outside of the field and he was still on the bridle approaching the last two furlongs, at which point he began to ease into contention on the outer.
Riven Light cruised into third with a furlong to run, he then led around 150 yards out and he sustained that effort to hold the strong-finishing Bond Street by three-parts of a length. Rionach ran a terrific race in third, while Aussie Valentine secured yet another premier handicap placing in fourth.
TOUCH AND GO
“He fractured his pastern in Australia and had to have two screws put into the injury.
“It was touch and go whether he would live at one stage but the vets in Australia did a great job. They got the injury stabilised and it was four or six weeks before we got him home,” said Mullins.
“He had around three to four months off and then we got him back riding. He went lame again then and we had to take the screws out and after that we started back and hoped to get him ready for here.
“At home we didn’t gallop him on grass. We kept him to the all-weather and hoped that he’d come alive on grass on the track.
“He got a great ride from Danny who put him to sleep and rode an ice cool race,” added Mullins.
Afterwards the elated winning rider commented: “It’s unbelievable.
“Willie just told me to go out and ride it like a piece of work and the horse was probably going too well for much of the race.”
Big day for Lavery with 115/1 double
Rest Of Report
WILLIE Mullins saw his evens favourite Exchange Rate exit at the first in the Colm Quinn BMW Novice Hurdle but he need not have worried as Pakora stepped into the breach to look another potential star for the champion trainer.
Pakora (5/1) faced a much tougher assignment than when winning her maiden hurdle at Cork almost three months previously but she looked right at home in the first running of this listed event.
After Exchange Rate jinked and parted company with Ruby Walsh at the first the Marie Donnelly-owned winner travelled supremely well for Paul Townend.
Pakora, who was a very useful stakes-placed runner on the flat in France, moved on from Canardier after the second last flight and quickly shot clear to cross the line with eight and a half lengths to spare over Holding Pattern.
“I’ve always thought that she was a very good filly but I’ve just found it hard to keep her sound,” commented Mullins.
“If I can keep her right I think she’s a mare that could go all the way. For an inexperienced mare she jumped very, very well and I think there’s improvement to come from her as I’m not sure she was 100% today.”
St Stephens Green, who has been such a fine advertisement for the training talents of Emmet Mullins, looked a natural on his first try over fences in the Latin Quarter Beginners Chase.
Also a winner on the flat, in bumpers, over hurdles, the 3/1 favourite was running for the first time since landing a flat handicap at the Curragh in May.
A number of the market leaders exited in the early stages of this two-and-a-quarter-mile contest but the David Mullins-ridden St Stephens Green produced a display that would have befitted a seasoned handicap chaser.
He was especially quick at the last two fences, which carried him to the head of the field, and he kept on doggedly on the climb to the line to defeat Winter Escape by two and a quarter lengths.
“He’s been a brilliant horse for me and it looks as though fences might be his best discipline. It looks like it will be an exciting end to the summer for him,” observed Mullins who indicated that the Annette Mee-owned gelding was likely to turn out again in last night’s Guinness Handicap.
After catching the eye with a fine debut fourth in a Curragh maiden won by stablemate Peach Tree, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Hermosa justified 11/8 favouritism in the Colm Quinn BMW Irish EBF Fillies Maiden. In a race where her elder sister Hydrangea had to settle for the runner-up spot in 2016, the Donnacha O’Brien-ridden filly was able to take up a decent position on the inner from her stall one draw.
On the approach to the straight Hermosa just needed to extract herself off the rail to deliver her challenge and she did so to get into full flight in time.
OUTSIDER
She forged past the 40/1 outsider Only The Brave around 100 yards from home and she went to the line well to see off Engles Rock by a length, with the newcomer Tarnawa catching the eye a further half-length back in third.
“It was a good performance. She was green the first day and she was still a bit green today. For an inexperienced two-year-old this is a tough track but once she got in the clear in the straight she was good,” reported the winning rider.
“She’s a filly with a good attitude and a fair level of ability.”
Sheila Lavery ended a two-month spell without a winner in style as she registered her first double which began when Burning Question landed the Caulfield Industrial Irish EBF Maiden.
Lavery could have a nice prospect on her hands in this Holy Roman Emperor filly.
The Question Mark Syndicate-owned filly endured a narrow defeat in a Ballinrobe handicap eight days previously but a sharp drop back in trip to seven furlongs worked in her favour as she accounted for a reasonable field.
The 76-rated filly made the most of her low draw by going straight to the front for Gary Carroll and she maintained an unfaltering tempo to defeat the well-backed newcomer Dabiyr by a length and three-quarters.
“It’s pure relief,” exclaimed the winning trainer, who has a fine record at this meeting.
“The horses have been running flat and I’ve been disappointed so it’s a great relief she’s won. Gary said he was going to try and keep it simple on her and she got it easy up front. She does like an ease in the ground and I do think that there is more to come from her.”
The brace was completed by Truffles and Robbie Colgan in the Caulfieldindustrial.com Handicap.
The back-to-form five-year-old was once rated as high as 86 but she had dropped down to 68 for this seven-furlong assignment and she turned out in rare order to spring a 20/1 surprise.
Truffles moved into the outright lead a quarter of a mile from home and, for the duration of the straight, the five-year-old kept Honour Oak at bay.
“If the first one was relief the second one was excitement,” reflected Sheila Lavery whose brother, John, owns the filly.
“She’s just taken a while to come to hand but she is often at her best in the autumn and she is a filly that appreciates a cut in the ground.”
GREAT PERFORMANCE
St Gallen ended a barren spell stretching back to May 2016 in the Caulfield Industrial Handicap over an extended mile.
The John Murphy inmate, who was in action as recently as last Saturday, was once rated as high as 93.
He lined up here off a mark of 70 and he was fitted with blinkers for just the second time in his career.
The Armada Racing Partnership-owned gelding was backed from 25/1 into 12/1 on course and produced a performance to match under Danny Redmond.
The strapping five-year-old swept into a decent lead rounding the final bend and stuck to his task bravely to hold Try Again by a length and a quarter. Redmond picked up a two-day whip ban for his efforts.
“He has been running well for a long, long time now without winning,” said Murphy’s son George.
“When he won his maiden, he got a high enough mark and ran very well in a Group 3 at the Curragh after that. He has done that very well there and the blinkers helped too.”
ACTING STEWARDS
P.J.A. O’Connor, M.J. Doyle, C. O’Mahony,
D. Gavin, P.D. Matthews
HORSE TO FOLLOW
TARNAWA (D.K. Weld): This Moyglare and Debutante Stakes entry shaped up very nicely in the maiden won by Hermosa. She had it all to do from a stall 13 draw but came home very nicely to finish a close third and this initial effort would mark her out as a filly of some promise.
Highlight Of The Day
There was any number of factors against Riven Light in the night’s feature but he produced an extraordinary effort to carry the day. This horse is surely worth a crack at Group 1 company.