Treble joy for Mullins and Walsh
Mullins and Walsh were associated with successful odds-on favourites Ceol Rua and Sous Les Cieux in the maiden hurdle action while Mullins won the bumper with Are Ye Right Chief and Walsh initiated his haul on board the John Berry-trained Savello.
Sous Les Cieux, who sustained a stress fracture when a beaten odds-on favourite at Fairyhouse last January, made an impressive return to action when justifying 30/100 favouritism in the Fairyhouse Membership 2012 Maiden Hurdle, cruising home six and a half lengths clear of Roarkes Cross.
Mullins said: “I was fairly sick going home the last day he came here, because he has always shown us plenty at home. But he injured himself that day and has taken time to come right again. He was still a bit novicey today and will be a better horse when they go a better pace.
“He’ll have no problem dropping back to two miles and I wouldn’t be afraid to bring him anywhere.’’
Earlier Ceol Rua proved a facile winner of the Christmas Party Race Day Maiden Hurdle, stretching clear to beat The Ethiopian emphatically.
Mullins said: “She jumped a lot better today than in her previous run. She’s still a bit careful but is improving and we’ll have to go up a grade with her now.’’
The Mullins trebled was completed when Are Ye Right Chief stayed on dourly up the straight to collar the gambled-on and flattering Mooney’s Cottage by a neck in the bumper.
“That was a good staying performance,” declared Mullins. “He’ll go hurdling straight away and will need every yard of two and a half miles plus. He should make a nice staying chaser down the line.”
Before he shared in the two Mullins odds-on victories, Walsh had been the architect of another odds-on favourite Staying Article’s defeat in the Fairyhouse Premier National Hunt Weekend Hurdle, achieved on board the John Berry-trained Savello.
Walsh grabbed the initiative three from home on the Wexford maiden winner. And the five-year-old Anshan gelding kept going well to beat the favourite by three-quarters of a length with Irish Grand National winner Organisedconfusion running a cracker to finish a close third, after a terrible blunder at the final flight.
Berry said: “He’d be a stone better on better ground and we’ve been lucky to win two with him. He’ll be let out now until the spring, February or March. He’ll make a good chaser, but not until next season.”
Out of luck with odds-on favourite Please Talk in the bumper, Noel Meade had started the day with a winner, when the Paul Carberry-ridden Leroy Parker got the better of His Excellency in the three-year-old hurdle, a half-length separating the pair at the line. “He’s a bit of a monkey, but has plenty of ability,” declared Meade.
Luke’s Benefit, trained and ridden by Denis Hogan, followed-up a facile success at Limerick on Sunday when justifying 5/2 favouritism in the Trinity College Dublin Horseracing Society Handicap Hurdle.
The grey, 2lb ‘well-in’, made virtually all to beat market rival Give Us A Hand by almost four lengths, prompting Hogan to say: “He only had 2lb in hand with his penalty and I was worried coming here whether I should have let Jane Mangan ride him again, claiming 7lb I put pressure on myself. But he won well and I’m delighted for the two lads that own him, Mike and Tony O’Brien, from Nenagh. I have no immediate plan for him, but he’ll probably go chasing soon enough.”
Favourite-backers were also on the mark in the Gurteen Agricultural College Handicap Hurdle when the Christy Roche-trained Harold’s Cross, ridden By Alan Crowe, got the better of the gallant Wicklaw Lad by a neck.
