Colm Greaves: Barry Connell - ‘Woah – He’s halfway there’
Since the beginning of the season, he has been adamant that Marine Nationale would win the Supreme Novice Hurdle at The Festival and that his stablemate, Good Land would follow up in the first race on Wednesday, the Ballymore Hurdle. The first leg came up on Tuesday, and judging by the body language of various bookies, a large cohort of believers followed Connell in and large pay outs on a lucrative double await if Good Land can deliver.
Connell’s young stable jockey, Michael O’Sullivan, who rode an ice-cool absolute peach of race on Marine Generale, said afterwards: “The horse is just incredible. Turning in there I wasn’t sure what I was holding on to but my god he actually won easy. Barry stuck his chest out and he was right.”
Has the pressure of the week lessened Connell’s belief or blurred his transparency? Not in the least. Speaking after Marine Nationale’s impressive win he doubled down: “I knew coming into the race I had the best horse in the race and the best rider in the race and everything went according to plan. We’re coming back here for the double tomorrow.”
Bon Jovi might almost have written their camp song on Tuesday night: “Woah – He’s halfway there, Barry Connell – living on a prayer!”
If you are still unconvinced then take a look at Wednesday’s concluding race, The Champion Bumper. Family industry links can be found in most of the partnerships and many more are hidden beneath the surface. Jonjo O’Neill Jnr rides Beachcomber for his father, Patrick Mullins, as usual, has first pick from his Dad’s army of ten and his pin had landed on Fact to File. Bryan Cooper too hooks up with his old man, the Tralee based trainer Thomas who tasted glory in this contest with Total Enjoyment in 2004.
But the warmest family story is wrapped around the likely favourite, A Dream to Share. Trained by John Kiely he is unbeaten in three starts to date, the latest being a very impressive victory at the Dublin Racing Festival.
On board on Wednesday is Mr. John Gleeson the son of the prominent and very energetic racing broadcaster, Brian. The horse carried the colours of his mother, Claire until he was recently sold on for an undisclosed sum to JP McManus after his Leopardstown win.
Not too long ago, in the glory days of Kauto Star, Denman and Master Minded, Paul Nicholl’s cast his long shadow over Cheltenham week, nearly as long as the one cast by Willie Mullins these days.
Then, about ten years ago some cooler winds began to blow, the conveyor belt of great horses stalled and Nicholls had to regroup. One of the changes he made was to rebalance how he sourced his horses and his plan may be beginning to pay dividends.
He’s well clear in the race to win the British trainer championship again and a win will bring him to within one of Martin Pipe’s record haul of fifteen.
His Grade One hopes on Wednesday lie with Captain Teague in The Bumper, Greaneteen in the Champion Chase and Hermes Allen in the Ballymore.
Captain Teague won a point for Colin Bowe before moving to Nicholls and won his only bumper to date at Plumpton just before Christmas. Whether or not he is man enough yet to fend off a powerful Irish challenge is questionable but he is a solid future prospect for the Ditcheat stable.
Greaneteen is a reliable old soldier just a few pounds below top class.
If anything goes amiss with the ‘three big E’s’ (Energumene, Edwardstone, Editeur Du Gite) in the Champion Chase he should be on hand to pick up the pieces.
Nicholls best prospect on Wednesday is Hermes Allen in a fascinating opener, the Ballymore Novice Hurdle.
Owned by a syndicate that includes Sir Alex Ferguson he cost a whopping £350k at the sales, not much less than he paid for Eric Cantona back in the day.
Hermes remains unbeaten after three starts which included a very easy win in the competitive Challow Hurdle at Newbury and yet another French named athlete may prove to be an inspired purchase.
