Counihan hitching a ride to Cheltenham
The Cork boss is one of eight people in a Cork/Waterford Beir Bua syndicate involved in nine-year-old Farrells Fancy, which won the €80,000 two-and-a-half-mile Grade A Leopardstown Handicap Chase on Saturday.
According to Carrigtwohill-based O’Brien, the gelding is expected to run in the novice handicap chase at Cheltenham on Monday, March 12 and is priced at 16/1.
Asked about the prospects of the horse making the trip to the Cotswolds, Counihan said: “You never know. The old handicap’ll catch up on us. And it was great. When you think all the big guns were represented there in term of trainers and owners. It was mighty, as the fella says.”
Farrells Fancy was backed into 9/1 from 25/1 but Counihan insists he didn’t have much affect on the market. “We didn’t think he would go on the [heavy] ground but some other people made a killing on it. He won a Hunter’s Chase. I had plenty of others who never made the racecourse or anything like that.”
Counihan didn’t think enough of the horse’s chances to pass on the tip to his players. On Saturday, Eoin Cadogan tweeted: “It’s a pity he didnt share that little secret with us at training #pintsonconor”
