Super jumps season for Wexford duo
THE JUMPS racing season ended in Ireland and Britain at the end of April, and Wexford jockeys Seán Flanagan and Daryl Jacob had best-ever seasons at both sides of the Irish Sea, with J.J. Slevin and Tom O’Brien also doing well.
Seán Flanagan ended with a win in the third-last race at Punchestown to cap his best campaign ever, and to illustrate the relentless nature of his job, on Monday at Kilbeggan he won the first race of the new season after just a one-day break.
Flanagan and Noel Meade rescued a disappointing Punchestown week on the final day with their only win in the €55,000 Boylesport handicap chase. He gave a well-judged front running ride to outsider, Wounded Warrior (20/1).
They did pick up some good money for places in some of the week’s big races, such as €27,500 for third in the Gold Cup with Road to Respect.
On Monday he set off on the roundabout again with a win in the first at Kilbeggan on Heroesand villains (3/1) for Meade.
Flanagan finished the season on his best-ever total of 59 winners which left him in a clear fifth place in the jockeys’ table.
This is 13 more than his previous best last year and his total prize money won was in excess of €1.2 million.
J.J. Slevin can be very happy with his progress in only his second year as a professional.
His 32 wins - including a thrilling win in the Irish Grand National on General Principle - put him in 13th position in the table, just a couple of wins away from the top ten.
Jamie Codd missed out the whole Punchestown week due to injury and finished inside the top 20 with 18 winners from just 104 rides.
Point-to-point champion Barry O’Neill had a fine double at Punchestown, winning the €100,000 Goffs Landrover Bumper on Commander of Fleet (5/1) for Gordon Elliott, and the KFM Hunters’ Chase for the Bishopscourt Cup on Alpha Male (2/1) for Peter Maher.
He also had a winning start to the new season at Kilbeggan when taking the bumper on Macgiloney (11/1) for Denis Hogan.
In Britain, Davidstown’s Daryl Jacob ended a most successful season with a big double at Sandown in races worth £150,000 which cemented his twelfth place finish in the championship, and he was fourth best in terms of prize money won.
Jacob had 63 wins from 360 rides for an impressive strike rate of 18%. Many of these were in top quality races as reflected in his total prize money of £1.5m (including places). These money figures are only bettered by champion jockey Richard Johnson who had over 900 rides, Nico de Boinville and Sam Twiston-Davies.
Jacob certainly ended the season on a high. In addition to the Sandown double, he had hopped over to Punchestown to partner Footpad to effortless victory in the €115,000 Grade 1 Ryanair Novice Chase - one of the most impressive performances of the week.
Tom O’Brien, son of Jim from Adamstown and nephew of Aidan, also had a pretty satisfactory year over the jumps in Britain and ended in 15th position in the table with 53 winners from 445 rides, which earned an impressive £348,000.
He finished up quite strongly with four winners in the final week.