Leopardstown: Market gets it spectacularly wrong as Mouchoir blows rivals away
While Henry de Bromhead had been amongst the winners at Limerick and in Kempton, his previous runners at Leopardstown had not been performing to expectation, and that may have contributed to him going off 6-1 (10s on Betfair), having been as short as 5-2 in the overnight market.
This fellow was quite the opposite, as he produced a career-best effort which saw him dictate throughout and then quicken clear of odds-on favourite Nichols Canyon in emphatic fashion. In front and going well until falling at the third-last in the Fighting Fifth, at Newcastle, it was ample compensation for connections, and relief for the winning trainer.
“It’s deadly,” said De Bromhead. “Some ride, and he jumped deadly. It’s lovely when it works out. We’ve had a few winners this week but up here it has been a little bit trying, but that’s made up for it all.”
Winning jockey Bryan Cooper was also delighted to get on the board, following a frustrating week.
“Usually I don’t ride those proper two-milers, it’s been three-mile chasers I’ve been riding over the last couple of years, but he’s got a lot of gears,” he said. “We wanted a strong-run two-mile race and we got it. I went a good gallop, and he jumped very well. You wouldn’t think he took a bad fall the last day, it didn’t seem to knock his confidence.
“He can go a nice, proper gallop over two miles, and can keep going. I fancied him big-time for the Fighting Fifth. A lot of people said I was mad riding him over Apple’s Jade. It looked like he had the race at his mercy but we’ll never know, and thankfully we got the better Grade 1 today.
“I was keen to make sure it was a good test, as my lad stays very well, but I was waiting for Ruby to come to me, as he has been for the last four day. But thankfully my luck changed, and we got one on the board.”
Punting may make old men of young, but it seems the same cannot be said for trainers, as octogenarian Patrick Duffy, Villierstown, revealed after his Courtncatcher took the Martinstown Opportunity Handicap Chase in the hands of Conor Brassil.
“I’m over 80 and I ride this horse every day. I ride the fast work and all, I’m the only one who rides him. He ran well in the Cork National but maybe didn’t get home, but the ground suited him today, and he jumped super.”
Battleford landed the odds in the Guinness Maiden Hurdle, but there were some hairy moments for those who backed Willie Mullins’ horse into 4-9. In close at several hurdles, he was momentarily in trouble racing around the final bends, but his stamina and class was enough to see him home in front of Coeur Joyeux.
“He probably could improve his jumping, he didn’t jump as well as he schooled at home,” said Ruby Walsh, enjoying his tenth winner of the meeting. “But he’s a tough horse, who liked the trip, and I’d imagine he’ll be stepping up in grade now.”
Mullins added: “He was just a bit novicey at a few of his hurdles, but was way better than he was in Navan. He’s another horse that’s just going to keep on improving, he’s so strong and big in himself. I don’t know if he’s fit yet, but he was impressive. He’ll step up (in trip) all the time. He’s a real tough horse, that gives himself a hard time all the time, but thrives on it.”
And number 11 for Walsh and 22 for the week for Mullins wasn’t long in coming, as 1-3 favourite Let’s Dance sauntered to a wide-margin success in the Grade 3 Willis Tower Watson EBF Mares’ Hurdle. Highly tried last season, she remains a novice, but may be forced out of novice company to race over her desired trip at Cheltenham.
“She did that well. Jumped, galloped, as we thought she would do, and she’s improving all the time,” said Mullins.
She still qualifies for the Mares’ Novice Hurdle, for which she is a 6-1 chance, but Mullins feels the two-mile trip may be on the sharp side for her: “I’d say she might go out further in trip, might go for the Mares’ Hurdle, even though she’s still a novice.
“She was a maiden last year, but that whole season of experience stood to her. Looking at today’s performance, she’ll get three miles no problem.”
Of his tally of 22 winners, he remarked: “We’ve never had that in Punchestown, it’s extraordinary. We were slow out of the blocks, and had our few problems, but it’s just the way it’s worked out now. It’s fantastic.”
Following a tough-as-teak performance in the Grade 1 Neville Hotels Novice Chase, the Jessica Harrington-trained Our Duke was given an introductory 12-1 with Boyles and Ladbrokes to emulate former stablemate Bostons Angel, who won this race in 2010 before going on to victory in the RSA Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
The well-backed 4-1 second-favourite – the only Grade 1 winner of the meeting not to have been under Willie Mullins’ care at some point - was unproven over the three-mile trip, but Robbie Power rode him as though stamina was a strong suit.
And so it proved as, despite numerous mistakes, the most significant when losing three places at the second-last, he dug deep to get back up in the dying strides to foil Drinmore winner Coney Island by half a length, with Disko the same distance back in third.
“He’s a very good horse to be able to win a Grade 1 making that many mistakes,” said a most-impressed winning rider. “He’ll learn so much from today, so going forward hopefully there’ll be a lot more to come from him.
“He has a huge engine, and stays really well. If he had jumped, he would have won by ten lengths. I never had a doubt about the trip. He has never worked like a two-miler, but ideally, he wants a bit softer ground, so it just shows how good he was to win today.”
JJ Slevin lost his 7lb claim with a good ride aboard Exactoris, in the Top Oil EBF Novice Handicap Hurdle. Joseph O’Brien’s horse didn’t jump with great fluency but put his head down after the last to deny First To Boogie.
The Finny Maguire-ridden Quick Grabim provided a fitting finale, as he looked a fine prospect when winning the bumper in the colours of Michael Worcester, owner of former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Mr Mulligan. Winning trainer Robbie McNamara was equally pleased with rider and horse.
“We thought he’d win the first day, but the ground went on us,” said McNamara. “He did everything wrong that day, and was idle when he hit the front. And it was the same today. He was well entitled to get himself beaten. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had fell in a hole, but he did it well.
“We’ll take our time with him. We always thought a lot of him and the plan, before he ever ran, was the Champion Bumper at Punchestown. I don’t want to go to Cheltenham with him, he’s too immature. We’ve one or two others that will go there - we’ll be represented in the big places in those bumpers.
“Finny’s a brilliant rider. He’s claiming five pound, and it’s a pure rob. He made a difference there. It might have looked as if he was being cocky, but he was leaving him to fill himself up, and it made a difference. He makes horses like that look like they win easily, whereas somebody else could get them beat.”
* Attendance, which was up every day, was 11,915, compared with 9,150 in 2015, resulting in Tote (€539,734) and Bookmaker (677,045) turnover both up by more than €100,000 on the day. Over the four days of the festival, the Tote totalled €2,446,428, compared with €2,339,233 in 2015, while ring activity reached €3,704,982, up from €3,293,482 last year.
I’m over 80 and I ride this horse every day. I ride the fast work and all, I’m the only one who rides him
