GRAND DAY FOR THE ELITE
But O’Grady and Ryan are dreaming of an upset on National bow
TOMORROW morning, Eoghan O’Grady will give Westerner Point a final once-over at his yard in Ballyclough, near Mallow. A little further along the road in Cashel, John Ryan will oversee the loading of Kilcarry Bridge with a caring touch, for the 11-yearold, who has won over €225,000 in his 50 races, is his undisputed stable star.
Both Westerner Point and Kilcarry Bridge are bound for Fairyhouse where they will represent their stables in the €500,000 Boylesports Irish Grand National.
Each will carry a light weight, and probably not a lot of punters’ cash, as they are among the outsiders.
Neither O’Grady nor Ryan has had a runner in the National before and while that is not entirely unusual, the presence of the smaller training operations in Ireland’s greatest jumps race has dwindled from a steady flow to a trickle.
James Motherway (Blueseacracker, 2010), Tom McGibney (Lion Na Bearnai, 2012) and Dot Love (Liberty Counsel, 2013) all saddled recent winners of the National. None of them are represented in the big one tomorrow.
Neither is Arthur Moore, whose extended family is synonymous with the great race, and who gave niece Nina Carberry the leg up on Organisedconfusion, the winner in 2011. Sadly, ‘ALT’ won’t be placing his trilby between the ears of his successful steed for the post-race photo.
These days, the National field is increasingly the territory for the heavy hitters; Willie Mullins, Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown House (three wins in the last 10 Nationals) and JP McManus (two in the last 11).
Outside of that trio, there is little room for the smaller owners and trainers who once dared to
of Easter Monday glory. How has this come to pass? Money, inevitably, has much to do with it.
With a first prize of €260,000, the National is more than black type on a trainer’s CV; it can shape a season. It’s why Gordon Elliott, chasing his first Irish trainer’s title, will have 13 runners in the 30-runner field. Reigning champion trainer Mullins will saddle four, while the long-established Noel Meade will run two.
Almost imperceptibly, the people’s race has become one of privilege.
And while no one will say it publicly, that is not necessarily a good thing for National Hunt racing.
At the risk of being charged with an excessive use of the quip, it’s not in the National interest.
Of the Elliott-Mullins-Meade triumvirate, only Meade has won the National before, with The Bunny Boiler in 2002,
That glory has evaded Elliott and Mullins is mystifying, but as they saddle over half of the field between them tomorrow, it is fairly
short odds that one of them will finally run that anomaly to ground.
And yet O’Grady and Ryan will travel in hope, if not expectation, that their lone raiders can leave an imprint in the juicy Ratoath turf.
Westerner Point has been part of the scenery at O’Grady’s yard since he bought him as a three-year-old for the bould Thade Quill Syndicate, an eight-strong crew of locals in north Cork.
‘He won’t mind the ground and he’s a decent record at Fairyhouse where’s he’s run three times, been second twice and won once,’ said O’Grady.
‘I’ve never had a runner in the Irish National so this is a big day for the yard, and the owners who are going up for the day.
‘I won’t be nervous but I’ll be excited. By Monday morning I’ll have done all I can and will leave the rest to jockey Philip Enright, who knows him inside out.
‘The most important thing is that he comes home in one piece. There is prize money down to 10th place so if we can get a slice of that we’d be delighted.’
Ryan’s roots in the game run deeper than most. His great granduncle John O’Dwyer trained the winner of Irish Derby in 1911, Shanballymore, whose sire was sold for a barrel of porter.
His family, of Tipperary farming stock, have a long association with racing, yet he’s never had a crack at the National until now.
‘I never bothered with the National as there was no point unless you felt your horse had a chance,’ he explained.
‘It’s often run on good ground and over such a long distance that a horse can easily strain a tendon. But it’s soft now and that will suit our fellow, whose dam is full brother to Hear The Echo, who won the National a few years back.’
The front-running Kilcarra Bridge seems over-priced on his run at Punchestown last November where he was pegged back by Road To Respect late on and had such classy performers as Sub Lieutenant, Minella Rocco, Outlander and Zabana in his wake.
‘To run the Gold Cup third so close and to beat the horse second in last year’s Gold Cup (Minella Rocco) gives him a decent chance,’ said Ryan.
‘He’ll be to the front as usual and he likes Fairyhouse; he ran a cracker there to be second in the “Dan Moore” in January.’
It is five years since Kilcarra Bridge first ran on a racecourse. By coincidence it was at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday, in the race before the National.
Should either Westerner Point or Kilcarra Bridge deliver tomorrow it will serve as a heart-warming reminder of the great race’s capacity to thrust heroes forward from the shadows.
I won’t be nervous, I’ll be excited, I’ll have done all I can by Monday