Octane Wonder brings Irish Purse success to Kingdom
Irish Cup meeting
A FITTING finish to a fantastic season. That was the general consensus of the large crowds present at Greenmount Racecourse last weekend that witnessed Skellig Shane claim the final flag of the coursing calendar and in the process lay claim to the Irish Cup following a pulsating final course against Drive On Smokey. There was Kerry success as Octane Wonder claimed the Irish Purse.
The big gamble on the opening morning saw Portane Ash go off the clear 5/1 favourite and he set the pace over the opening four rounds. However, the Declan Byrne trained runner ran out of steam in the penultimate round where he was just edged out by the early paced Drive On Smokey.
Skellig Shane went off at 10/1 with the long-odds layers, and he progressed from a tricky opening quarter when beating Wallace Banner by 3 lengths to progress to the semi-final stage. He was again pitted against a Brendan Matthews trained runner here, but he proved much too good for Needham Frankel, who failed to make an impression against the Denis O’ Driscoll trained runner.
In an all Cork final, Skellig was as short as 1/3 heading for slips. A big shock looked on the cards as Drive On Smokey showed in front and he quickly opened daylight between the pair with the favourite struggled to find any momentum. The lead extended to three lengths at one point, however Skellig Shane dug deep and swiftly went through the gears to lay down his challenge. He reeled in his rival just yards from their game, and lunged forward to take the opening score by ½ length.
Drive On Smokey lost nothing in defeat but a second blow in the final of the Irish Cup will be a bitter pill to swallow for connections of the runner-up.
The winner is owned, bred and nominated by Tim O’Driscoll from Glounthane in Cork.
The Irish Purse also provided a thrilling final buckle as Octane Wonder and Domain King battled it out in an all-Kerry final. The Tom Nolan and Mossie O’Connor owned Octane Wonder had been favourite throughout the Stake, and posted the fastest clock in each round of the competition.
Whilst Domain King was a big outsider in the final, he showed good early pace to be well clear of his rival to halfway. Octane Wonder hit the turbo button once he found his feet and was quickly back on terms. With his foot firmly on the gas the Scartaglin trained runner pulled three parts of a length clear of Domain King approaching the opening turn. To his credit, Domain King came back for more, but Octane Wonder took the flag in a just-up decision in a course that will be remembered for many a year to come.
There was an upset in the final of the Plate as For the Parish, from the kennels of Patrick McIntyre came from off the pace to deny Alcar in the final buckle. The winner came away smartly, but Alcar swept to the front and led for much of the course. The Northern raider rallied again at the top of the field and stole in for the opening turn in another ‘just-up’ decision.
The short-odds punters were again left long faced following the final of the Patsy Byrne Select All Age Bitch Stake. The ‘hotpot’ Finn Dancer failed to justify favouritism and was soundly beat by the Michael Donavan trained Mother Of Pearl. Owned by Sir Mark Prescott from Newmarket in the UK, the winner showed all the early foot in the final course and stayed on gamely at the top of the field for a resounding four length victory.
Brendan Matthews scored twice on the undercard as he produced Bexhill River and Gadget Eoin to claim victories in the Working Members Invitational and Bitch Puppy Stake respectively.
Pay Me Later provided Abbeyfeale’s Jack Foley with success as he proved best in the Earl Of Dunraven Puppy Stake, while Ardmore Magic landed the spoils in the Cuine Puppy Stake for Fia Callinan.