Entertaining battle

O’Neill edges out James in Rathnure

THE Bree Hunt point to point meeting was successfully run off at Monksgrange, Rathnure, on Sunday and it was dominated by Wexford riders and horses. After a meeting-long battle, Barry O’Neill edged out Rob James in the last to outscore him by three wins to two, with Harley Dunne picking up the other race.

The opening IRE Wel Pallets four-year-old mares’ maiden was run off in a torrential downpour but it did not stop James and trainer Donnchadh Doyle of Monbeg from registering a third four-year-old win of the weekend with Mega Yeats. James O’Neill was second on John A. Berry’s Caddy Shack.

The first four were all Wexford owned, trained and ridden in the Tattersalls four-year-old geldings’ maiden and here Doyle and James had to accept second with Tactical Move, four lengths behind the very impressive Eden Du Houx (out of Irish Wells), ridden by Harley Dunjne for James Doyle (Monageer) and the Baltimore Stables Syndicate.

This was some compensation for the winners as their Methodtothemadness was very much in contention when falling in the first. Third was Havana Hermano under Sean O’Keeffe (Taghmon) for Richard Black (Bunclody) and next was Barry O’Neill on Colin Bowe’s Tanrudy.

It was O’Neill’s turn to make an impact in the third, the Cooney Furlong Grain Ltd Winners of Two as he held on by half a length on Roy Tector’s (Clonroche) Turndownthevolume (by Stowaway), from the fast finishing Makeapoint, under Shane O’Rourke (Foulksmills) for Vincent and Jimmy Devereux, (Rostoonstown).

Buckie Cullen, Denis Hickey’s favourite, was in the thick of it when capsizing at the second last. This was Tectdor’s third win

Winner, Turndownthevolume, ridden by Barry O’Neill ( left) jumping with Starozov, ridden by Rob James in The Cooney Furlong, winner of two race at the Bree Hunt point to point at Monksgrange, Rathnure on Sunday.

of the season.

O’Neill struck again in the Goffs UK Spring Sale five-yearold geldings’ maiden on board Colin Bowe’s son of Oscar, The Con Man, clear of James on Donn. Doyle’s Old Rascals and Harley Dunne on Denis Mjurphy’s Lough Derg Diamond.

This was a popular success as the winner is partly owned by Margaret Furlong, chair of the organising Bree Hunt.

James hit back in the Nitrofert five years old + mares’ maiden, coming in eight lengths clear on Sean Thomas Doyle’s (Ballindaggin) favourite, Faithfulness (a daughter of Robin Des Champs) owned by Basil Valentine of Kildare. O’Neill was second on Jasper Bear, trained by his Fermanagh mentor, David Christie, ahead of Getawaytonewbay under Shane O’Rourke for the Devereuxs.

The finale was a thriller and O’Neill had the final word over James in the Ballywalter Farms older geldings’ maiden. He forced Mark Cahill’s Soarlikeaneagle up on the line despite some dodgy jumping, to deny James by a head on Colin Bowe’s Captains Run, with PA King third on Daryl Deacon’s (Clonroche) Coach Road.

It was a fitting end to a great day’s sport which saw a titanic battle between Barry O’Neill and Rob James, two men riding at the height of their powers. It capped a great week for O’Neill who also had two winners at the Punchestown Festival.

Next weekend they race on Saturday at Tallanstown, Co. Louth, and Ballindenisk near Watergrasshill in Cork.

On Sunday, the famed Galway Blazers race at Loughrea, and Laois Hunt at Stradbally; the Muskerry Foxhounds run at Dromahane in Cork, and again on bank holiday Monday at Dawstown near Blarney.

BEING the most iconic athlete of a generation brings more than a little scrutiny, in fact, it brings the eyes of the world. Catapulted into that position, anointed as a kid, there is a humongous amount of pressure to conform to the norm.

It makes it almost impossible to be an individual, you can’t live a normal life. There are big bonuses but irreplaceable moments are lost. Tiger Woods spend more than almost two decades rebuffing the eyes of the world, trying to keep his existence as ‘normal’ as possible.

On the course Woods had an aura, it attracted fans and created detractors, it frightened the life out of a generation of golfers. He was a private individual that everybody was familiar with but nobody really knew.

Then, one night in his Isleworth home, his world came tumbling down. News of multiple affairs, both pre- and marital, dragged arguably the greatest golfer to ever grace the greens into the tabloids.

It created a snowball effect that meant Woods’ entire life changed in the space of an evening. It was huge news, it was everywhere, people around the world were talking about it, Woods hasn’t won a major since.

The events before and after the day

Woods’ world came tumbling down are all included in the latest publication on the 14-time major winner. Its title is simple, it’s called ‘Tiger Woods’.

Written by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, this publication is billed as the complete story of the life of Tiger Woods. Chronologically written, it moved all the way through his childhood, right up to the start of this 2018 season.

It drives down all all the avenues of previous books, the controlling parents, relationships and awkward situations, the coaches, his big personal life troubles and the injury nightmare of the last few years - it even has some golf in there too.

At over four hundred pages, with small enough font size, there’s plenty of information in there. It’s ripped from multiple sources including previous books, Woods interviews and independent interviews - some credited to the source, others not.

The book was given a boost before it hit the shelves, with representative for the American golfer releasing a statement ridiculing the publication as a ‘re-hash’ of previous releases on Woods.

Manager Mark Steinberg and spokesman Glenn Greenspan said that: ‘Tiger Woods’ was ‘littered with egregious errors’ and the writers ‘can’t even manage basic truth and accuracy’. The rebuff gave the book plenty of life and free publicity.

In truth, it is a little sensationalist. The writers looked to sell the book before its release with juicy tidbits about Woods’ connection with Anthony Galea, a Canadian doctor that was arrested for smuggling human growth hormone into the States, before pleading to a lesser charge of bringing in mislabeled drugs.

However, there’s nothing on the subject but conjecture and rumour, indeed the strongest words are from rebuffing any Woods links to performance enhancing drugs.

Who will be interested in this book? Well anyone who calls themselves a sports fan knows the face and basics of Tiger Woods. The average Joe, that wants to know a little more, this is aimed at you, it has most of what you need to get an idea of his life.

For golf fans is this really the Tiger book you need? Honestly, probably not, the new information is there in patches but most of the new additions fall into the salacious category. Golf-wise there are better books out there.