CHAOS reigned as the traditional curtain raiser to the juvenile hurdle season in Ireland got underway at Roscommon where only seven of the 16 contestants made it to the finish of the Railway Bar 3-Y-O Hurdle.

Victory here went to the Denis Hogan-trained and Rory Doyle-owned Whyzzat (10/1) but the focus rested on the opening hurdle where Alice Kitty fell and the resulting melee saw five other horses exit. Two other horses pulled up as a result of interference they suffered at the first and later in the race Helvic Princess came down on the flat due to the unwanted attentions of a loose horse on her inner.

Hospital

As a result of all this carnage, Alice Kitty’s rider Jack Kennedy and Denis O’Regan, who partnered Helvic Princess, were both taken to hospital for further assessment on potential rib and arm injuries respectively. This edition had echoes of the infamous 2006 edition of this race when six of the eight runners departed at the first flight before Ruby Walsh and Rusty Red, trained by the late Joe Crowley, emerged victorious.

Fifteen years later, Shane Mulcahy emerged as the winning rider as he produced his mount to take the measure of the favourite Eternal Presence from the second last, eventually prevailing by just under four lengths. A 58-rated runner on the flat, Whyzzat had been placed on three of his four starts coming into this race.

Favourite Favori

As a result of all the drama in the opener, the following two-and-a-half-mile maiden hurdle got underway over 20 minutes later than scheduled with victory eventually going to the 11/8 favourite Favori Logique.

A runner-up on his last two outings, the Ross O’Sullivan inmate was produced late by Shane O’Callaghan to deny one of the biggest upsets in Irish racing history. The front-running Vale Of Glory made a bold bid to defy odds of 250/1 but he succumbed to the market leader in the closing stages and the Patrick Burke-owned winner reached the line with two and a half lengths to spare.

“He had some good form and Shane knew him from finishing second on him the last day. He’s a horse with a lot of options and he is handicapped over fences too,” stated O’Sullivan.

THE evening concluded with quite a nice-looking bumper winner in the Joseph O’Brien-trained Rotten Row. In the colours of Demi O’Byrne, who was also involved in the trainer’s promising juvenile winner Albula the previous day, this son of Leading Light picked up well off a steady-enough pace.

Tom Hamilton always gave the impression that he had everything covered from over a furlong out and Rotten Row (3/1) went to the line nicely to score by a length and a half from the favourite, Dreamz, whose only previous run yielded a very respectable showing in a Grade 3 at the Punchestown Festival.

“Tom said he travelled lovely and you could see the horse was doing his best work at the end. There’s plenty of improvement in him and I’d say he has a good future,” remarked Brendan Powell.

Full Tank

The Aengus King-owned and trained Fill The Tank (11/1), who was in great fettle earlier in the summer bounced back to form on his favoured good ground to win the 80-109 rated handicap hurdle over just short of three miles. Mark McDonagh’s mount had pulled up on his last two outings but banished those efforts as he took charge of a well-grouped field late on for a near two-length success over Siberian Star.

April thrives in August; delight for Hourigan family

AFTER giving the impression on her Irish debut at Limerick last month that she could take beating if coming back to two miles, Alice Avril (5/6) duly took advantage of a good opportunity in the beginners’ chase over the minimum trip.

Darragh O’Keeffe rode the Henry de Bromhead-trained four-year-old who was untroubled up front and enjoyed a fairly routine four-and-a-quarter-length success over Santana Plessis. The Pimlico Racing-owned daughter of Balko should be able to add to her haul over the coming months.

Icee’s ground

Michael Hourigan supplied the winner of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Beginners Chase as Icee M B A added to the handicap hurdle success she recorded at Downpatrick a couple of months ago. In the interim this daughter of Yeats had shaped up well on her chasing bow to finish third to Tune The Chello at Limerick and she duly confirmed that promise in this near two-and-three-quarter-mile affair.

Brian Hayes produced the 12/1 shot to lead at the second last and the pair went on to defeat That’s Lifebuoy by a length and a half.

“Nice ground is the key to her so I decided to keep her going through the summer and she’s been good,” stated the trainer who reported that the mare’s name came from the initials of his grandchildren.

Castle triumphs

The seven-year-old maiden Glenquin Castle (14/1) got off the mark when he defeated last year’s winner Warreedy in the 0-95 rated handicap chase over three miles.

The J.P. McManus-owned gelding lost a decent position heading out on the final circuit but Mark Walsh had him back in the thick of the action from the turn-in and he led before the final fence to a half-length triumph.

The favourite, Cailean’s Angel, finished last of the 13 to complete and she was later reported to have burst a blood vessel and to have lost a shoe.