Townend on top
SLIGO
At Sligo on Sunday, Mark Enright and trainer Fozzy Stack were winners again as Aussie Girl took the opening five and a half-furlong fillies’ maiden. Enright made all the running on the well-supported 11/10 favourite which beat Jessica Harrington’s 11/1 chance Yuzu by a length and a half in the wellknown Peter Piller colours.
Meanwhile, Billy Lee landed his second winner of the week with success on the Andy Oliver-trained Semblance Of Order. The even money favourite led before the straight and came home a three and a quarter-length winner from the Joseph O'Brien-trained Arniemac. While the Choi Fook Racing Syndicate-owned Conversant won the handicap over the same distance for Denis Hogan and Joey Sheridan. An 8/1 chance, the eight-year-old led inside the final furlong to beat Claire O’Connell’s Catherine Choi by half a length.
PUNCHESTOWN - SATURDAY
On the day he was crowned champion jockey for the sixth time, Paul Townend brought his tally for the week at Punchestown to 11 winners, all trained by Willie Mullins, with a final day double on Saturday. The colours of Barnane Stud were carried to Grade 1 success once again as Townend and Echoes In Rain easily landed the Coolmore NH Sires Mogul Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle. The 13/8 joint-favourite came from off the pace to lead before the final flight and she ran away to win by nine and a half lengths from the John McConnell-trained Anna Bunina.
Lossiemouth gave Townend his ninth Grade 1 victory of the festival as she took the Ballymore Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle, leading home a 1-2-3 for Mullins. Another in the Ricci colours, the 1/2 favourite beat her stable companions Zarak The Brave and Gala Marceau by a length and a half and two and threeparts of a length respectively.
PUNCHESTOWN - FRIDAY
Paul Townend and Willie Mullins shared a treble at Punchestown on Friday last and their opening success on the day came with the Margaret Masterson-trained Kilcruit in the EMS Copiers Novice Handicap Chase. Paul Townend made all on the 11/4 favourite which ran out a 15-length winner from Eoin Griffin’s Jody Ted, a 28/1 shot. State Man notched up his fourth Grade 1 success of the season with a cosy three-length win in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. The Townend-ridden 2/5 favourite was another to lead every step of the way and Marie Donnelly’s sixyear-old scored from his own stable companion Vauban, at odds of 100/30, the pair six lengths clear of the Lorna Fowler-trained Colonel Mustard.
Cheltenham Festival winner Impaire Et Passe won by more than twice that margin as he followed up in the Grade 1 Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle, the third winner of the day for Mullins and Townend. In the Simon Munir and Isaac Souede colours, the five-yearold led approaching the final hurdle and raced clear to beat Joseph O'Brien’s High Definition by seven and a half lengths.
Elsewhere, Brian Hayes landed the Grade 2 Hanlon concrete Irish EBF Glencarraig Lady Francis Flood Mares Chase on the Colm Murphy-trained Impervious. In the colours of JP McManus, the gutsy Cheltenham Festival winner led before the second last fence and quickly went clear to win by all of 11 lengths from the Willie Mullins-trained Instit, easily justifying her odds of 8/11 favourite.
Charles Byrnes and Ray Barron shared the final winner on the day as 11/1 chance Walk Away Harry took the Avison Young INH Flat Race. The Kilmallock amateur rider left his challenge late and the game five-year-old came between horses to challenge to mount his challenge inside the final furlong before getting up to beat the Edward O'Grady-trained Irish Panther by half a length in the colours of the Area Fiftyone Syndicate.
PUNCHESTOWN - THURSDAY
Paul Townend was in the saddle as the Mullins-trained El Fabiolo maintained his fine unbeaten record over fences in the Grade 1 Barberstown Castle Novice Chase at Punchestown last Thursday. A 1/4 favourite for owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, the sixyear-old was clear between the final two fences as he beat his own stable companion Dysart Dynamo by 11 lengths. Townend was also on board as Klassical Dream notched up his fourth Punchestown Festival success and his third straight win in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle. Owned by Joanne Coleman, the nine-year-old was sent off at odds of 3/1 joint-favourite and he held off his stable companion Asterion Forlonge by half a length, with Cheltenham Festival winner Sire Du Berlais a neck away in third place.
Carraig An Ard trainer Robert Widger landed the Close Brothers Irish EBF Mares Handicap Chase with the 7/1 chance Indie Belle. Owned by Paula Widger and Nigel O’Sullivan, she was a winner over the same course and distance in February of last year and added to more recent success at Tramore in December and a Downpatrick at the beginning of April with a 15-length victory under JJ Slevin from the Jimmy Barcoe-trained Influential Lady.
While earlier on the card, Aidan Coleman won the near three-mile handicap chase on the Anthony Honeyball-trained Kilbeg King. The 12/1 chance went clear from the final fence to beat Henry de Bromhead’s Let’s Go Champ by four and a half lengths.
PUNCHESTOWN - WEDNESDAY
A little bit of history was made at the Punchestown festival on Wednesday as the John Kiely-trained A Dream To Share landed the Grade 1 Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion INH Flat Race. Adding to earlier wins at Tipperary, Roscommon, Leopardstown and the Cheltenham Festival, the five-year-old became the first horse this century to win five bumper races as he saw off the challenge of the Willie Mullins-trained Tullyhill to score. John Gleeson was again in the saddle and carrying the colours of owner JP McManus for the second time, he got the winner home by three and three-parts of a length.
Both Paul and Jody Townend were winners on the day also. Paul shared two winners with Willie Mullins and Jody completed a treble for the champion trainer when winning the concluding bumper. The Cheveley Park stud-owned Grangeclare West was the first of the Mullins scorers in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle. The Paul Townend-ridden 6/4 favourite went clear form the final hurdle to beat the Padraig Butler-trained Da Capo Glory by four and a quarter lengths.
The champion jockey made it 100 winners for the season as he followed up on 4/5 favourite Gaelic Warrior which raced to a 10-length win in the Grade 1 Daily Mirror Novice Hurdle. He beat the Noel Meade-trained Affordable Fury in terrific fashion.
His sister Jody completed the Mullins treble when bringing 4/1 chance Junta Marvel home a two-length winner of the Grade 3 Weatherbys General Stud Book Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race. In the colours of the Turner family, the five-year-old led before the straight to beat Colm Murphy’s Rhaenyra, an 80/1 shot.
PUNCHESTOWN - TUESDAY
Paul Townend’s first success at the 2023 Punchestown festival came as early as the second race on the opening evening on Tuesday. He shared it with Willie Mullins who went on to dominate the day, winning two of the three Grade 1 races on the card and also sharing a notable bumper success with his son, Patrick. It was Facile Vega that got both men off the mark, the 4/6 favourite made a terrible error at the third-last but still won the Grade 1 KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle in fine style, puling clear to beat his own stable companion Il Etait Temps by seven and a half lengths in the colours of the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate. The champion jockey had to work hard to take the Grade 1 William Hill Champion Chase on the Mullins-trained Energumene, the 2/7 favourite. Owner Tony Bloom’s nine-year-old looked in trouble when stable companion Chacun Pour Soi challenged for the lead between the final two fences but he asserted after the last to score by three-parts of a length. Mullins also won the Killashee Hotel Handicap Hurdle with the Susannah Ricci-owned 14/1 chance Bialystok and he captured the €100,000 Goffs Defender Bumper the Patrick Mullins-ridden Predators Gold which carried the colours of Gigginstown House Stud.
UPCOMING FIXTURES
Tipperary – Thursday, May 4 (first race 5.20pm); Downpatrick – Friday, May 5 (first race 5.05pm); Cork – Friday, May 5 (first race 4.40pm); Cork – Saturday, May 6 (first race 1.48pm); Naas – Saturday, May 6 (first race 1pm); Leopardstown – Sunday, May 7 (first race 1.05pm).