Codd, Mullins pursue crown
THE EYES of the racing world will be on the Punchestown Festival this week, but amidst all the elite Group 1 races, and the glitz and the glamour, one of the most intriguing contests will be for the amateur riders’ championship between Jamie Codd and Patrick Mullins.
Codd from Mayglass is the reigning point-to-point champion and he leads Mullins by 38 to 36 as the Festival begins on Tuesday. All will be decided as the season ends at the close of racing on Saturday, and Mullins will surely have lots of ammunition from his father, Willie.
Most of Codd’s track winners have come in bumpers for Gordon Elliott, champion trainer elect. But it has taken an enormous effort by Codd as he is also still in contention for the point-to-point title.
On quite a few weekends, he has travelled to far-flung point-topoint meetings for two or three rides and then had to dash by car to various tracks to catch the concluding bumpers, but he has certainly been making it work.
As he said to me last week: ‘these chances don’t come around very often in your career and you have to take them with both hands’.
Codd made what may prove to be the decisive burst in his prolonged duel when he had three winners at Cork on Bank holiday Monday and another at Fairyhouse on Tuesday to open up a lead.
His 38 winners so far have come from just over 120 rides and have him in eleventh place overall in the jockeys’ standings, headed only by the top professionals. His strike rate of 31% is exceeded only by Ruby Walsh, and this is by far the best seasonal track total of his career.
He had ridden a point-to-point winner at Stradbally, Co. Laois, on Monday before dashing off to Cork, and it certainly paid off. Pat Mullins rode in the first at Fairyhouse that day before moving on to Cork for one ride, but he had the benefit of a helicopter for the trip.
Codd’s hat-trick came aboard Sizing Solution (11/8f) for Jim Dreaper, followed by two for Gordon Elliott - Double Portrait at 4/1 (with Mullins third on the 4/6 favourite, Fabulous Saga), and Lackaneen Leader (5/4f).
He scored at Fairyhouse on Tuesday in the concluding bumper for Elliott once again on CrackingSmart (13/8f), while Mullins was down the field in his two rides for Joseph O’Brien.
Codd was on a day’s suspension for Kilbeggan on Friday evening but Mullins could not make it pay, getting no winner from his two rides. He was involved in a desperate finish in the bumper, coming in close third behind a dead-heating pair, and was before the stewards for excessive whip use and careless riding. He was found guilty of both but got away with a one-day suspension which may not have to be served until after Punchestown.
Jamie has been riding better than ever this year, including another Cheltenham Festival double and second in the Aintree Grand National on Cause of Causes, and he is certainly making a big bid to lift the title for the first time. Here’s wishing him luck. J.J. SLEVIN (Caim) had a good spin in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Monday to pick up €25,000 for fourth place on Thunder and Roses (25/1) for Mouse Morris and Gigginstown, behind winning favourite, Our Duke, for Robbie Power and Jessie Harrington.
He had a winner for Timothy Doyle (Thurles) at Tipperary on Thursday on board Ask David at 20/1, and on Saturday he had a winner on the high-profile Scottish Grand National card at Ayr on board Gilt Shadow (8/1) for Steven Crawford in a £20,000 handicap hurdle.
Seán Flanagan had a nice winner at Fairyhouse on Monday in a €30,000 rated handicap hurdle on board Noel Meade’s Showem Silver (backed from 20s in the morning into 10s) for Philip Reynolds, son of former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds.
Barry O’Neill, Ballindaggin, leading the point-to-point riders’ table from Jamie Codd, scored an impressive win on his old friend, Maple Mons (9/2), for David Christie in the Hunters’ Chase at Fairyhouse onTuesday. He has won eight times on him in the past two years, mostly on point-to-point tracks.
In Britain, Daryl Jacob had four winners and Tom O’Brien three during the week. On Monday, Jacob won the bumper at Chepstow for Emma Lavelle on Majestic Moll (10/11f), while O’Brien had a 12/1 winner for Philip Hobbs at Market Rasen, Louis Vac Pouch, in a handicap hurdle.
On Tuesday, both were riding at Kempton and came first and second in the novice hurdle, Jacob THIRTEEN WEXFORD point-topoint horses were sold at the Tattersalls Ireland sale at Cheltenham on Thursday for a total of £1.173 million sterling, with trainer Denis Murphy from Ballyboy, The Ballagh, getting £515,000 for five lots, and three Doyle brothers from the highly-successful Monbeg operation at Ballindaggin getting £440,000 for four sales.
Denis Murphy is having a marvellous season and a fortnight ago he sent out five winners at meetings in Courtown, Galway and Louth on the one day, and most of them appeared in the Cheltenham sales ring.
At Inch on April 12, Murphy won with Tossapenny (four-year-old bay gelding by Presenting) under Jamie Codd; having been initially bought for €31,000 for Pat Coffey, it was sold to trainer Evan Williams for £170,000.
He sold Active Force (four-yearold gelding by Oscar), for owner Pat Coffey to Noel Meade for £165,000, following a debut win under Jamie Codd at Courtown on April 9. This one had previously been bought for €25,000.
Murphy sold Princess Roxy (a four-year-old chestnut mare by Midnight Legend) for £115,000, a very good price for a mare; Harley Dunne had ridden her to victory at Bellurgan Park, Co. Louth, on April 9.
Five-year-old Dream Brother (a gelding by Oscar) won for him on winning on Talent to Amuse (2/5f) for Lavelle from O’Brien on Canoodle for Hughie Morrison, but O’Brien got his winner in the next aboard Breath of Blighty (7/1) for Paul Webber.
On Thursday Jacob went to Taunton for one ride, on Canoodle (11/4 and drifting), which he had beaten at Kempton two days earlier, and won snugly. Jacob went up to Ayr on Friday in an open looking final race and made it pay with clear victory on Beer Goggles (11/2f) for R.M. Woollacott, and Tom O’Brien hung around at debut under Jimmy O’Rourke at Belclare in Galway on the same day, and this one sold for £50,000. His Belmont Jewel (a five-yearold mare by Westerner) won her maiden at Courtown under Jamie Codd, and this one went to Michael Scudamore for a modest £15,500 to complete a very good night’s work for The Ballagh man and his yard.
Donnchadh Doyle’s Chooseyourweapon (a four-year-old Flemensfirth gelding) was the highest-selling Wexford horse on the night, going to Evan Williams for £210,000; originally bought for €30,000, he won under Rob James at Inch on April 12.
His Heroesandvillains (a fouryear-old bay gelding out of Beneficial) won at the third attempt at the Island Hunt meeting at Courtown under J.J. Walsh; previously bought for €40,000, he went here to Noel Meade for €140,000..
Donnchadh’s brother, Seán, was second on debut in that Courtown race with Clash of D Titans (a Goldwell gelding) under Rob James, and this one sold to Highflyer Bloodstock for £50,000.
A third Doyle brother, Cormac, won on debut at Belclare, Co. Galway, on April 9 with First Assignment (a four-year-old gelding by Vinnie Roe) under Benny Walsh, and this one sold for £40,000.
Colin Bowe sent over just one horse, Court Liability (a four-yearold gelding by Court Cave) which Southwell that evening to score on Sunnytahliateigan (6/4f) for Iain Williams in a novices’ hurdle.
On the flat, on Wednesday, Pat Dobbs from Enniscorthy was seen at his best when driving home Steel of Madrid (10/1) for Richard Hannon in the Group 3 Earl of Sefton Stakes at the prestigious Newmarket Guineas trials meeting by half a length from favourite, Folkswood (5/2), under William Buick, and Jimmy Fortune (Ferns) was strong on Middle Kingdom (7/2jf) to get up by half a length for John Gosden. came second under Rob James to the highly-rated Battleoverdoyen at Loughanmore, Co. Antrim, last Saturday week and this was enough to attract £88,000. Battleoverdoyen actually sold to Gordon Elliott for £235,000 just a few minutes earlier.
Denis Murphy’s sister, Bernadette, trains at Blackwater and had her first winner eleven months ago. She sent her own Red River (fouryear-old gelding by Beneficial) to Belclare on April 9 to finish second under Jimmy O’Rourke behind First Assignment, but she actually got more than the winner, selling for £58,000.
Bernadette’s mare, Mrs Barnes (by Ask), was second under Jimmy O’Rourke to Aidan Fitzgerald’s highly-rated Kupatana at Monksgrange, Rathnure, on March 26, and this was enough to sell for £36,000.
Tomhaggard trainer, Shirley Berry, was second at Courtown behind Denis Murphy’s Active Force with her Court Cave gelding, The Devils Drop, under Ray Cody and this one sold for £36,000 to trainer, Alan King.
All this was another illustration of the rude health of the pointto-point scene in Wexford at all levels and the seemingly insatiable demand in Britain for our horses once a win, or even a second, has been achieved. The next sale on the agenda is on Thursday at the Punchestown Festival.