Big Jer makes the most of Island’s mishap in geldings’ maiden

The rescheduled first session of the two-day Ormond Foxhounds point-to-point took place at Ballingarry in north Co Tipperary on Saturday afternoon, but it was abandoned in the interest of safety after the fourth race, the first division of the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.

During the course of the truncated meeting, three horses either slipped up or unseated going through the gap before the turn-in approaching the final fence. The stewards made the decision to abandon the fixture when Derek O’Connor’s mount Jansboy slipped up going through the gap well before the last in the first division of the five-year-old geldings’ maiden when closing in third on the front pair of Penanag Island and Big Jer.

In the race itself, the Ken Budds-trained Penanag Island held a slight advantage on the inner when making a horrendous final fence blunder which duly unseated his partner and John Halley’s charge Big Jer (4/1 — 7/2), runner-up on his previous start at Athlacca last month, was duly left clear to beat the never-dangerous Heroinahatshell by 15 lengths in the hands of Pa King.