Captain seals leading rider title for McCoy
McCoy, seen at his brilliant best on Justified in Sunday's Powers Gold Cup, displayed his tactical expertise on the J P McManus-owned Glenfinn Captain as he dictated the pace throughout before gaining a convincing win over O.Muircheartaigh, which pressed the winner from half-way before failing to get on terms approaching the final flight.
Winning trainer Tom Taaffe was quick to pay tribute to McCoy's handling of the 9/4 shot in what he termed "a muddling race" before adding: "This horse won a bumper for Bill Lanigan before we bought him for 'J P' and this was his first season of serious racing."
"I think he has done enough and going to Punchestown with him would be greedy. He's a nice staying horse and should develop into a smart novice chaser next season."
The Noel Meade-trained Jazz Meessenger was sent off a strong favourite for this Grade 2 event but, not for the first time, lacked fluency in his jumping and was struggling a long way from home before finishing a well-beaten third.
Leonard Whitmore, who trains a small string in Blackwater, County Wexford, and 5lb. claimer Niki O'Sheam who works for Dessie Hughes, combined to win the featured €130,000 Menolly Homes Handicap Hurdle with 33/1 Wishwillow Lord.
This seven-year-old made all the running to give O'Shea his eighteenth win of the season, battling bravely on the long-run-in (the last hurdle was omitted due to Denis O'Regan's earlier fall from Dashing Home) to keep the persistent challenge of Callow Lake (Barry Geraghty) at bay after the runner-up ran into traffic problems on a couple of occasions.
O'Shea explained: "It's brilliant. He's a smashing horse, a great jumper. I thought Barry's horse would beat us when he came upsides. But this fellow found a bit extra and won going away."
Like O'Shea, Whitmore was enjoying the biggest win of his career and commented: "I only train about ten horses, mainly for point-to-points. And this fellow looks every inch a chaser. He might go for the big handicap at Killarney next month or have a run over fences before he goes out to grass. He'll be chasing in the autumn."
While Tony McCoy proved the Festival's leading rider, Ruby Walsh took the riding honours yesterday, notching an early double on his father Ted's Artist's Muse in the Weatherbys Ireland 4-Y-0 Hurdle and the Willie Mullins-trained Livingstonebramble in the Blue Square-sponsored Dan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase.
Described by her trainer as "unlucky" in the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham, Artist's Muse landed odds of 4/6 in the opener, booking her ticket to Punchestown next week, for either the champion four-year-old hurdle or a listed mares event in which she would receive significant allowances.
Livingstonebramble, which has clearly benefited from a wind operation, proved a welcome winner for out-of-form Willie Mullins in the 'Dan Moore' but was probably a lucky victor, having taken advantage of the situation after the leader and favourite Mansony crashed at the third last fence, bringing down Commonchero.
Davy Russell, rider of Mansony, and Denis O'Regan, injured in the featured handicap hurdle, were shaken and stood down for the remainder of the meeting. But Andrew Lynch was less fortunate, fracturing an arm in his fall from Commonchero.
A day after brother Philip won the Powers Whiskey Irish Grand National on Point Barrow, Nina Carberry won the Joseph O'Reilly Memorial Cup on General Striker, trained by Enda Bolger, a multiple winner of the race as rider and trainer.
Curragh trainer Eddie Harty will consider running Captain Cee Bee in the Savel Beg Stakes at Leopardstown before his summer break following his victory over highly-regarded Big Zeb in the bumper.
In a slowly run race, John Thomas McNamara's mount gained the upper hand inside the final furlong, the pair finishing well clear of the remainder.
