'It's fabulous' - Meade revels in Affordale Fury's brave fightback to slay Leopardstown giants
ALL SMILES: Affordale Fury and Sam Ewing win for owner Philip Polly and trainer Noel Meade with groom Emma Connolly. Pic: Healy Racing
Affordale Fury lowered the colours of Gold Cup heroes and multiple Grade One winners when taking his form to new heights with a game success in the Savills Chase on Sunday afternoon in Leopardstown.
It was a race with potential for an upset, with Galopin Des Champs having his first run of the season, Fastorslow having just his second after a long lay-off, and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin having something to prove after a lacklustre return to action.
For all of that, Affordale Fury, who won a listed chase in Thurles on his most recent outing, had something to find, his best run to date having been that runner-up finish in the Albert Bartlett at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.
Sam Ewing, riding the 7-1 chance for Noel Meade, was counting on his race fitness as he set out in front rank and soon found himself dictating matters. It went well through the first half of the race but then he began to run down the fences, consistently losing ground and momentum in doing so.
That allowed the pack to close up, and when Galopin Des Champs, who has oft been spectacular on the long run from the back of the last at Leopardstown, emerged as a danger, the leader looked like a sitting duck.
Credit Ewing and Affordale Fury, however, as even though Galopin Des Champs’ old sparkle wasn’t quite there, the winner found plenty all the way up the straight to see off former Grand National winner I Am Maximus by two and a half lengths, with Galopin a game and promising third.
“It’s fabulous,” said Meade. “Philip (Polly, owner) has been very lucky with me with the couple of horses he has had. We haven’t too many but the couple of horses we have had have turned to gold.
“When this fella was second in the Albert Bartlett as a novice hurdler, we were really looking forward to him as a chaser. He won his beginners’ chase and then things went wrong on us, and he missed the whole of the next season.
“He was sort of left in no-man’s-land. I was kind of saving him last season for the Irish National and he had three runs so he would have got into it. He obviously would have been hard enough to beat in it but things went wrong again.
“They changed the rules when the new season came in and he had to have another run so I ran him in Gowran, over two and a half miles, and he ran very well, probably too well as the handicapper put him up five pounds.
“We said we’d head for the stars and we went to the north (Champion Chase at Down Royal) and he ran a very big race there but didn’t jump as well as I thought he might.
“Then he went to Thurles, which he didn’t really handle that well, but he won anyway. Philip said to me before the race, ‘what do you think?’ and I said whatever happened today was him because he cannot be any better than he is.
“He worked the other day and worked the sight out of your eyes. Then Donagh (Meyler) got suspended and we had to go back to Sam, who is having a great meeting so it’s not going downhill getting Sam by any means.”
The first two home in the Stayers’ Hurdle at last season’s Cheltenham Festival filled the first two places in the Grade One Christmas Hurdle, but Teahupoo turned the tables on Bob Olinger, who also carries the colours of Robcour.
When making a winning return in the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse, Teahupoo only just did enough to get the better of the apparently luckless Ballyburn, but he proved to be the one who progressed the more to also confirm that form.
Jack Kennedy rode a patient race aboard Gordon Elliott’s gelding and as the early exertions of Rocky’s Diamond began to tell, he cruised to the front.
By this stage the distress signals were already out for Ballyburn, but Bob Olinger began to make a move from the back. That effort, good as it was, never looked likely to succeed as the remarkably consistent and top-class Teahupoo was in command all the way up the straight on his way to a 14th career victory, half of which have been at Grade One level.
Said Elliott: “He was good. You’d be nervous looking at him halfway through a race as he always looks like he's going as fast as he can, but that’s the way he races.
"Years ago, when you were looking at Big Buck's and Inglis Drever, they always said they were behind the bridle the whole way, and that's the exact same way he races. He's a great horse and we’re lucky to have him.
“Jack was delighted and said he felt as good as ever. He didn't do a lot when he got there - he pulls himself up, but that’s what he is."
Victory was a second on the card for Elliott, Kennedy and Robcour, as their Lazare de Star had coasted home clear in the opener, the Savills Maiden Hurdle. Kennedy stalked the pace being set by Jet To Monte Carle, took over going to two out, and was gone beyond recall before Le Moulin Rouge made some late gains into second place.
The Nagger Reidy, trained by Sonny Carey and ridden by Michael Kenneally, gained a deserved success in the Mercedes Benz South Dublin Handicap Hurdle. Runner-up four times in seven starts since his last win, at the 2024 Harvest Festival, he is model of consistency but needed the assistance of the photo finish operators to separate him from Hgranca De Thaix, with the fast-finishing King In Love back in third.
Another horse deserving of a win was Koktail Divin, who finished runner-up to subsequent Grade One winner Romeo Coolio in a beginners’ chase before chasing home Oscars Brother in a Grade Two. Back in maiden company, for the Ballymaloe Relish Rising Stars Beginners’ Chase, and positively ridden by Darragh O’Keeffe, the Henry de Bromhead-trained runner made all the running and consistently outjumped his rivals on the way to a wide-margin success. This was in keeping with his promising effort on track debut at this meeting in 2024 and he now looks ready to realise that immense potential.
Joseph O’Brien’s horses have been in superb form this Christmas, and Duke Silver gave further evidence of their rude health when taking the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle Qualifier under a strong ride by Hugh Horgan. Clear over the last, he had enough in hand to deny the late lunge of favourite Yeah Man, which he did by three parts of a length. It was a landmark first success over obstacles for Horgan at only the second attempt, the first of which, a day earlier, resulted in a runner-up finish.
“Hugh gave him a fantastic ride and produced him at the right time,” said O’Brien. “He has had a great start and long may it last. He’ll probably do both (Flat racing and jumping), and he’s good value for his claim.”
Bentraghhill, a half-brother to the smart Party Central, made a winning track debut in the Forest Fest Bumper. A €150,000 purchase after finishing third in a point to point in which earlier winner Lazare de Star was runner-up, Willie Mullins’ charge, ridden by Jody Townend, was keen throughout but took over on the turn for home and won in the style of a fine prospect.
