Home in tenth, Tipple gives Kinirons a thirst for more to come
ON THE WAY: Puturhandstogether, with Mark Walsh up, jumps slightly ahead of Hot Fuss, with David Bass up, on the way to winning the Hallgarten And Novum Wines Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on day one of the Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
The Juvenile Handicap Hurdle was long done. So long done that the runners and riders for the next, the last race of the first day at Cheltenham, were already on their way down to the track. But Andrew Kinirons wasn’t done yet.
Kinirons had just watched Luker’s Tipple, his 25/1 shot lose ground before the last to finish tenth, and over as many lengths adrift of Joseph O’Brien Puturhandstogether, and the debrief stretched long and deep.
Sean O’Keeffe, a jockey who had won at the Festival before, gave a long and detailed take on the race. Then the owners, the Rachra Partnership, gathered around and they talked and talked and then watched the replays on the big screen.
This was only the trainer’s second Festival runner but the first with what he thought was a chance to do something. This was a big deal, a big day, for a small operation. He has only 20 horses in the yard back in Ladytown, Kildare.
“We didn’t get the result we wanted but it is hard with the big field," he said. "Sean just said it was messy and he got in under the first one at the back and he was probably on his head then and he was using up a bit when you want to be sitting at the top of the hill.
“Here, he ran a grand race but it’s the risk of running in a big runner handicap around Cheltenham. Sure look we’ll see, we’ll make a plan on him. We were hoping for more but it is only his fourth run and his first handicap so we’ll find another day.”
It’s easy gloss over just how big a jump this is.
Salvador Mundi, a horse that has seen a few rodeos, had to be removed from the pre-race parade before the opening Supreme Novice’s Chase such was his level of discomfort. And he wasn’t alone in experiencing the jitters on this imposing stage.
These things are learning experiences, for horses and for jockeys and for trainers.
“Exactly,” said Kinirons who trains Luker’s Tipple for a group of four friends in Shannonbridge in Offaly who are involved there in Lukers Bar. “It’s a big shock to the system for them coming here so we’ll build on it. Just disappointing when we know what we can do.”
If Cheltenham has been dominated by the ‘Irish’ in recent times then it is a trend built on the super yards and strings put together by Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry De Bromhead. It’s important to see shoots of promise elsewhere.
Kinirons’ presence here was picked up by RTÉ who visited the yard and captured images of the family-run operation. Result aside here, this has still been another important step. If anything, it has only heightened the ambition.
“We’re all delighted," he added. "It’s great to come here and get the publicity. It’s massive. This is where we want to be. We have been building towards days like this and it will make us even more hungry now to come back and put things right with him.”
