Double keeps O’Brien’s title hopes alive

ON a day when Pat Smullen clinched the Jockeys Championship with a double on Hawa Bali and Elusive Ridge, Joseph O’Brien kept his hopes of snatching the apprentice title alive with a double on Alexander Pope and Mr Pianist at Dundalk yesterday.

O’Brien, now on the 37-winner mark for the season, is two behind reigning champion Gary Carroll and Ben Curtis going iuto the final meeting of the 2010 flat season, in Dundalk tomorrow night.

Unhappy with the slow early pace, O’Brien soon let 2/7 favourite Alexander Pope stride into the lead in the six-runner Christmas Parties At Dundalk 2-Y-0 Race. And, having shaken off the challenge of Final Recovery with a furlong and a half to race, the Danehill Dancer colt stretched clear to triumph by seven lengths.