STOUT SUCCESS
Moore and O’Keeffe enjoy their first grade one winners
WHAT were the odds against Johnny Moore and Darragh O’Keeffe riding their first grade one winners an hour or so apart at Leopardstown yesterday?
Probably close to the 101/1 for anyone who doubled up on Flooring Porter (11/1)in the Christmas Hurdle and A Plus Tard (15/2) in a Savills Chase thriller.
To put the feats in perspective, Flooring Porter wasn’t even entered in the three-mile Christmas Hurdle, and had to be supplemented at a cost of €10,000 - a tenth of the total purse.
It was some leap of faith by the owners, the Flooring Porter Syndicate, in trainer Gavin Cromwell and pilot Moore, but it paid off with a creamy €59,000 pot, and left Moore grinning from ear to ear.
Offered an umbrella before being interviewed on Racing TV, he quipped, ‘The rain doesn’t matter. I’m on cloud nine.’
With blood staining his black and white silks - could there be any other colours for a horse called Porter? - Moore explained it came from his mount biting his tongue in the parade ring before the race.
‘He’s a quirky sort,’ said the Wexford pilot after making all to win by six lengths from The Storyteller with Sire Du Berlais, another Cheltenham Festival winner, third.
‘I decided to take the lead as it worked the last time. If it’s not broken, why fix it?’ said Moore.
‘He’s improved so much. He likes to go left-handed and a galloping track. All credit to the owners for supplementing him. I’d say he’ll go for the Stayers,’ said Moore, whose previous biggest win was on Irish Cavalier in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby in 2016.
Just as the connections of Flooring Porter took a punt, so too did Henry De Bromhead by booking O’Keeffe to ride A Plus Tard in the €150,000 Savills Chase.
The first O’Keeffe knew of it was when he spotted his name alongside the declared runners, and did a double-take over his cornflakes.
The 20-year-old from Doneraile duly vindicated De Bromhead’s faith as he delivered A Plus Tard later than last orders to deny ‘Team Mullins’ in a classic.
In a classy renewal, De Bromhead admitted to using ‘choice’ l anguage when the f ancied Minella Indo under Rachael Blackmore crashed out at the fence past the stands.
When defending champion Delta Work unseated Sean Flanagan at the next, it appeared as if honours would be split between the Mullins battalion, especially when Melon and Kemboy drew clear of a stretched out posse turning for home.
But O’Keeffe and A Plus Tard weren’t done for. First, they inched by Allaho, also running in the Cheveley Park red and white colours, and began to peg back the leaders.
A couple of lengths adrift at the last, A Plus Tard appeared set for place money, only for O’Keeffe to generate a stirring response.
The uphill drag from the final fence to the post at Leopardstown is almost as punishing as Cheltenham where A Plus Tard has won before. This was a bigger ask than anything he’d experienced but the six-year- old was willing to scrap, as was O’Keeffe.
As Kemboy, the 2018 winner, nosed ahead of Melon with 200 yards to go, it looked all over but A Plus Tard, using the near rail, had found an extra gear and was gaining fast.
First, he squeezed the pips out of Melon before catching Kemboy within touching distance of the post, to win by half a length. For a horse with stamina doubts, he looked like he’d go around again, and the Gold Cup must be a consideration now.
‘I’m over the moon, it was my first ride in a grade one and my first winner for Henry,’ beamed O’Keeffe.
‘At the back of the last I gave him a shove and he picked up and galloped all the way to the line. No one was quite sure if he’d stay or not; he definitely stayed.’
De Bromhead shook his head at how his first Savills Chase was lost, and then won. ‘It’s deadly, the ups and downs of racing, what a game,’ he smiled.
Ted Walsh, who has seen it all, was buzzing. ‘Henry, what a race!’ he shouted at De Bromhead from the RTE gantry. On the relevance of a win to O’Keeffe, Walsh predicted, ‘It’ll make him.’ FAROUK D’alene just held off the late thrust of Vanillier in a war of attrition for the Lyons Of Limerick Jaguar Land Rover Novice Hurdle at Limerick.
The race was transferred from Sunday’s card - which was abandoned because of waterlogging - and while the going was still extremely deep, it was at least raceable. It nonetheless made the two-mile- seven-furlong trip an extreme test for a field of novices who did not have that much experience to call upon.
Gordon Elliott’s Farouk D’alene took over from Costalotmore with a mile to run and appeared to have everything in hand under Jody McGarvey.
But turning into the straight, Darrens Hope looked a big threat before her stamina ran out between the last two.
It was left to Vanillier, who had been ridden patiently by Conor Maxwell, to keep the 2-1 favourite up to his work after the last - having lost a bit of momentum with a slow jump - but he was able to hold on by three-quarters of a length.
The winner was left unchanged at 33-1 by Betfair for the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham in March.
“I gave him a shove and he picked up”