22/1 shot for O'Brien at Punchestown
The week concluded with an all-flat fixture at Sligo on Sunday and Billy Lee was among the winners as Sakakawea, trained by Ted Walsh for his wife Helen, took the opening three-year-old fillies’ maiden. The 11/1 chance led inside the final furlong to beat the Barry Fitzgerald-trained Bella Mistiko by half a length. Chris Hayes partnered the Edward and Patrick Harty-trained Gegenpressing to take the handicap over the same five and a half-furlong distance. At odds of 9/2, the six-year-old made light of the widest of draws as he raced up with the pace and led over a furlong from home to beat Hugh McGuigan’s Sadiqaa by a head.
Wesley Joyce brought his tally for the season to five winners when taking the concluding 10-furlong handicap on the A&J Partnership-owned Dont Do Dramas. Trained by Mick Mulvany, the 6/1 chance made much of the running and came home a two and a halflength winner from Paul Flynn’s 3/1 favourite Solar Drive.
PUNCHESTOWN - SATURDAY
Kilworth trainer Sean O’Brien landed a final day festival success at Punchestown as he saddled The Gradual Slope to win the near four-mile handicap chase on Saturday. Owned by Mark McDonagh and ridden by his son and namesake, the 22/1 shot arrived with his challenge at the final fence and he battled well to pip the Lucinda Russell-trained Your Own Story by a neck, a third career success for the seven-year-old.
While he ended the season with a best-ever tally of 121 winners, Paul Townend could only manage the runner-up spot, two behind Jack Kennedy, in the jockeys’ championship. He managed six winners across the five days of the Punchestown festival, five of them at Grade 1 level. On Saturday, Townend landed two Grade 1 winners and again both were trained by Willie Mullins. Lossiemouth led home a 1-2-3 for the Mullins stable in the Mares Champion Hurdle. In the colours of Susannah Ricci, the 2/11 favourite was in a class of her own as she raced to a seven-length win over Gala Marceau with Ashroe Diamond a further 20 lengths away in third place.
Kargese, the Kenny Alexander-owned 9/4 favourite, completed the team’s double in the Ballymore Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle. She came with a late run to beat Gavin Cromwell’s Bottler’secret by a length and a half.
Brian Hayes completed a treble for Mullins when taking the two and a half-mile handicap hurdle on Chapeau De Soleil, another in the Ricci colours. The 16/1 chance led on the line to deny Gordon Elliott’s Beacon Edge by a shorthead.
Henry de Bromhead was a winner as Somptueux won the concluding charity race over two miles. Ridden by Lemybrien’s Glen Norris, the 12/1 chance scored by three-parts of a length from the Robert Tyner-trained Big Debates in the colours of Peter Davies.
PUNCHESTOWN - FRIDAY
Townend and Willie Mullins added two more Grade 1 winners to their haul at Punchestown on Friday where the attendance peaked at 36,620. State Man ended the season with an unbeaten record and took his own Grade 1 tally to 10 with a cosy two-length win under Paul Townend in the Boodles Champion Hurdle. A 2/7 favourite in the colours of Marie Donnelly, the seven-year-old led on the run to the final hurdle to beat Gordon Elliott’s Irish Point, his fifth success of the season.
Ballyburn gave Mullins and Townend another top-flight success with an easier win in the Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle. Owned by Ronnie Bartlett and David Manassen, the 1/5 favourite had a little in hand as he beat the Jessica Harrington-trained Jetara by three and a quarter lengths for his fourth victory, from five starts, during the term.
Michael O’Sullivan and County Kildare-based trainer Barry Connell had shared the first winner on the day as Hgranca De Thaix, a narrow winner at Limerick in March, followed up in the two and a half-mile handicap chase. In the Nurney-based trainer’s own colours, the 16/1 headed Gavin Cromwell’s front-running 4/ 1 joint-favourite Perceval Legallois, ridden by Mark Walsh, after the final fence and he stayed on best to win by four lengths.
PUNCHESTOWN - THURSDAY
Harry Swan rode his second winner of the week at Punchestown as Wingmen landed the bumper to complete a treble for Gordon Elliott before a crowd of 18,289 last Thursday, an increase of 506 on the same day in 2023. An 18/1 chance, he made all the running in the colours of Bective Stud to beat Harry Derham’s English raider Queensbury Boy by a length and three-parts.
Elliott had earlier landed his first Grade 1 success of the week as his Cheltenham Festival hero Teahupoo followed up in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle, under Jack Kennedy. The trainer also won the Listed three-mile handicap hurdle with Maxxum, the Patrick Rabbitte-owned and bred seven-year-old. Another valuable handicap success for conditional jockey Carl Millar, the 28/1 chance led as the field raced in the back straight for the final time and he made the best of his way home to win by two and three-parts of a length from the Jessica Harrington-trained Ashdale Bob.
PUNCHESTOWN - WEDNESDAY
Darragh O’Keeffe and Rachael Blackmore each rode a winner for Henry de Bromhead as he landed a double on the second day of the Punchestown festival on Wednesday last week, in front of an attendance of 21,652, up from 20,354 on the corresponding day last year. O’Keeffe landed the twomile three-furlong conditions’ hurdle on the 4/1 chance Gorgeous Tom which battled well to get the better of Willie Mullins’ even money favourite Mistergif by a length.
Rachael Blackmore had a slightly easier time of it on the 11/4 favourite Lets Go Champ which won the Grade 3 two and a half-mile handicap chase in convincing fashion. Leading over the final fence, the Roger Brookhouse-owned nine-yearold raced clear to beat the Tom Gibney-trained Must Be Obeyed by two and a half lengths with another Mullins runner, Authorized Art, a length further back in third place.
Not many horses win four bumpers in succession but Familiar Dreams achieved such a feat for amateur rider Aine O’Connor when landing the finale. Trained by Anthony McCann for the All Four Counties Syndicate, the fiveyear-old led through the early stages and again early in the straight. Despite drifting to her left inside the final furlong, the 4/1 shot held on to win by half a length from the Declan Queally-trained Mozzies Sister, a 5/1 chance with Willie Mullins’ 15/8 favourite a length and a half away in third place.
It was a red-letter day for the Townend family as jockeys Jody and Paul both rode Grade 1 winners. While no stranger to high-profile success throughout her career, Jody recorded her first Grade 1 winner when taking the Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion INH Flat Race on the Willie Mullins-trained Redemption Day. Owned by Tim O’Driscoll, the seven-year-old came from the back of the field and raced clear in the straight for an impressive three and three-parts of a length from Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay.
Paul won his first Grade 1 of the week as Dancing City added to earlier top-level wins at the Dublin Racing Festival and the Aintree Festival as he took the Channor Real Estate Group Novice Hurdle. The 7/4 favourite was pushed all the way to the line by his own stable companion High Class Hero but prevailed by half a length.
PUNCHESTOWN - TUESDAY
There was 16 years between Jimmy Mangan’s first Grade 1 success and his second but only a four-week gap to the third as Spillane’s Tower won the 1 Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase on the opening day of the Punchestown festival on Tuesday last week, adding to his Easter Sunday victory in the WillowWarm Gold Cup at Fairyhouse. The JP McManus-owned six-yearold had Mangan back in the big time with his win last month, his first at the top-level since Conna Castle in 2008. With Mark Walsh again in the saddle, he followed
up in determined fashion when getting the better of the Henry de Bromhead-trained Monty’s Star, his fellow 5/2 joint-favourite, by three-parts of a length, the pair six and a half lengths clear of the third horse home, the Gordon Elliott-trained Three Card Brag.
Paul Townend didn’t have to wait long for his first Punchestown festival winner and it came on just his second ride as the Willie Mullins-trained 16/5 favourite Daddy Long Legs ran away with the two-mile Listed handicap hurdle. In the colours of Marie Donnelly, the five-year-old led off the home bend and raced clear before the final hurdle to record a fivelength success from Harry Derham’s UK raider Brentford Hope.
Harry Swan was the first of the Tipperary contingent to land a winner at the festival as he took the €100,000 Goffs Defender Bumper on the Gordon Elliott-trained Sermandzarak. In the Robcour colours, the four-year-old led before the straight and battled well to see off Stuart Crawford’s Yeshil, a 50/1 shot, by a length and a quarter.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
Gowran Park – Thursday, May 9 (first race 1.05pm); Tipperary – Thursday, May 9 (first race 5.10pm); Downpatrick – Friday, May 10 (first race 5.05pm); Cork – Friday, May 10 (first race 4.05pm); Cork – Saturday, May 11 (first race 2.15pm); Naas – Saturday, May 11 (first race 1.25pm); Killarney – Sunday, May 12 (first race 1pm); Leopardstown – Sunday, May 12 (first race 1.15pm).