Battling Bus lands Troytown
Murphy missed the Navan action, but was on hand at Aintree where his Hello Bud made all to win the totesport.com Becher Chase for Nigel and Sam Twiston Davies.
But Casey, who bred both Hello Bud and Jack The Bus and successfully point-to-pointed Hello Bud before he joined the Twiston-Davies yard, was present to savour the biggest National Hunt success of his career.
Jack The Bus, whose only previous chase success was registered at Naas last March, came from off the pace under Alan ‘Birdie’ Crowe to beat the Terence O’Brien-trained Glenquest by three-quarters of a length after a tremendous battle from the second last fence. Lochan Lacha filled third position, with Siegemaster fourth.
A delighted Casey said: “He was entitled to have a great chance after his run in the Cork National. He jumped great today, except for one mistake and that didn’t seem to affect him. He loves that heavy ground and deserved to win a decent ‘pot’.” When asked about future plans for Jack The Bus, he replied, “I suppose I’d better remember to enter him for the ‘Paddy Power’ (at Leopardstown on December 27) in the morning. The entries close tomorrow.”
Andrew Leigh, rider of runner-up Glenquest, was subsequently suspended for three days for using his whip with excessive frequency.
Local trainer Noel Meade won the Grade 2 Friends of Navan Monksfield Novice Hurdle with recent Wexford winner Fully Funded, which most of the running to beat Gift Of Dgab and the flattering Ballyburke emphatically.
Davy Condon, on the winner, stole a clear advantage at the start, made the running and, when headed by Ballyburke at the second last, roused Fully Funded to regain the initiative before forging clear to score by four and a half lengths.
Meade explained: “He was rate 98 in France when Khalid Abdullah owned him. He got two miles on the flat, although he was a bit of a nearly horse. So Davy knew he’d keep going. He gave the horse a great ride, got ten lengths out of the gate and knew he’d keep finding for him when the others came at him up the straight.”
The winning trainer added: “He ran a very good race the first day behind Rite Of Passage in Leopardstown but, like a lot of horses that come from France, he went back from the run. He had a long break and, after making a mistake, got tired over three miles at Listowel. He won well in Wexford, when Davy said he’d have no problem stepping back up to three miles.”
“We have a few options with him, but he’ll probably come back here for the Navan Hurdle (on December 12), or else go to Cork for the three-mile novice on the same day. ”
The Willie Mullins-trained Fionnegas, runner of in Grade 1 novice hurdle company at Leopardstown and Punchestown last season, suffered what proved to be a fatal fall at the first fence in the beginners chase.
Making his fencing debut, the Eamonn Duignan-owned six-year-old was sent off 1/2 favourite but crashed heavily, sending Paul Townend (luckily unscathed) into orbit. Fionnegas broke a shoulder and had to be out down.
Earlier, Mullins and Townend enjoyed much better luck when Gagewell Flyer made all to win the INH Stallion Owners Maiden Hurdle convincingly from Buck Barrow.
Mullins admitted, “That’s pleasantly surprising, because I thought two miles, even around here, would be too sharp for him. The plan was to go novice chasing, but we might change our minds after this. He’ll probably stick to novice hurdling and will go out in trip. He could be a horse for the three-miler (Albert Bartlett) at Cheltenham.”
With Fionnegas out of the equation, the Barry Geraghty-ridden Lastofdtheleaders provided trainer Arthur Moore with a welcome winner in the beginners’ chase, proving too strong for Uncle Tom Cobley and Rahan De Marcigny.
Moore commented, “I suppose the favourite’s fall made it easier for him. And this race has been good to me over the years – we’ve won it with horses like Native Upmanship and Soft Day. This is a nice horse, and he was always going to be a chaser. He’ll go for a ‘winners of one’ somewhere and should have a good season.”
Charles O’Brien has just two juvenile hurdlers in his care, both for JP McManus. And both have won, following the hard-earned victory of 2/1 favourite Apache Drums in the opening Irish Form Book 3-Y-0 Miaden Hurdle.
Ridden by Mark Walsh, the High Chaparral gelding got up close home to deny Narima by a neck.
The Eddie Hales-trained Catcherinscratcher battled courageously to win the listed mares bumper, giving Kevin Power his first success since returning to the saddle.
The daughter of Catcher In The Rye stayed on stoutly up the hill to beat Cnoc Seoda and might return to Navan for a Grade 2 event next month.
