CABARET Queen, a truly inspired £13,000 purchase by Adam Potts and Jack Cantillon at the Goffs UK Spring Horses In Training Sale in May, capped a tremendous weekend for Willie Mullins with a handicap tour de force in the Ladbrokes Munster National.
A second winner of this race in three years for Mullins and a first for Paul Townend in the Limerick showpiece since he struck on Treacle in 2009, Cabaret Queen snuck into this race as a first reserve. Townend put up 2lbs overweight on the bottom-weight but this didn’t matter in the slightest to the seven-year-old daughter of King’s Theatre.
After an encouraging debut for Mullins that saw her finish second at Listowel, the Syndicates Racing-owned Cabaret Queen dismantled a highly competitive field from the front with a display of impressive efficiency.
A group of four attempted to close in as the leader freewheeled into the straight but they could never land a blow as the 8/1 chance maintained an impressive tempo to defeat last year’s winner Spider Web by 13 lengths.
“We’ll see what the handicapper does but I would think she might go for the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury,” said Mullins. “Even though she’s by King’s Theatre she went very well on the ground and she looks a nice mare for all those good staying handicaps through the winter.”
Winners everywhere - Willie Mullins at the Curragh watching Cabaret Queen winning at Limerick \ Healy Racing
A TREMENDOUS couple of months for Darver Star yielded another good prize as Gavin Cromwell’s charge made it four wins on the bounce in the Listed Ladbrokes The Nation Plays Novice Hurdle.
After winning a valuable handicap at Killarney and a decent novice hurdle at Listowel, the 145-rated seven-year-old faced a good test against the classy Fast Buck.
Jonathan Moore’s mount went toe to toe with his aforementioned rival from early in the straight and the 13/8 favourite got the upper hand after the last to prevail by a length and a half.
Fast Buck’s cause wasn’t helped as his rider Paul Townend was without his irons for the run-in. This victory could have set up a trip to Cheltenham in November for the SSP Number Twentytwo Syndicate-owned gelding.
Jonathan Moore went on to complete a double as he stepped in for the sidelined Sean Flanagan (stood down after a fall at Downpatrick on Friday) to take the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Beginners Chase on Noel Meade’s Minella Fair (5/2).
This useful novice hurdler was restricted to just one run over fences last season but he put that experience to good use to run out an easy winner of the two-and-three-quarter-mile contest.
The Patricia Hunt-owned gelding had plenty to spare in handing out an eight-and-a-half-length beating to Cracking Smart.
A fine run for jockey Philip Enright continued as he partnered John Kiely’s Penny Out (8/1) to victory in the Irish Racing Wall Calendar Mares Handicap Hurdle.
The back-to-form five-year-old, who carries the colours of the Deise Country Store Limited, made the running before a 10-length triumph over Lilly Trotter.
Spyglass Hill (6/1) made his first start since April a winning in the three-mile David Fitzgerald Memorial Handicap Hurdle where he struck for Henry de Bromhead and Hugh Morgan.
The Niall O’Leary-owned gelding, who ran some honourable races in defeat last term, finished with seven lengths to spare over the recent Navan scorer Theatre World.
AFTER enduring a relatively fallow period over the last 12 months, Listen Dear offered a telling reminder of what she is capable of at her best as she ran riot in the Listed PricewaterhouseCoopers Irish EBF Mares Hurdle for the Munster National-winning combination of Mullins and Townend.
The Supreme Horse Racing-owned nine-year-old, who was winning for the first time since May 2017, made the running and was unchallenged at all stages as she made a mockery of her 14/1 starting price for this two-and-three-quarter-mile contest. She finished with eight lengths to spare over Well Set Up.
The in-form favourite Western Victory finished a remote sixth and the second favourite, Black Tears, was pulled up when well beaten and found to be blowing hard post-race.
There was another smart front-running display in the Geary’s Garage Ltd John Deere Main Dealers Rated Chase where the useful novice Dinons (5/4) produced a polished effort under Davy Russell.
The Tim O’Driscoll-owned winner, whose record now stands at eight wins from 18 starts, jumped nicely and always gave the impression that he was in control. Gordon Elliott has a novice chase at Cheltenham next weekend in mind for this gelding after he finished 11 lengths clear of Mind’s Eye.