Ira Hayes provides McConnell with timely boost at Tramore
FORTUNATE SUCCESS: Ira Hayes wins the O'Driscolls Irish Whiskey Beginners Chase in the hands of Danny Mullins. Picture: Healy Racing
There was drama aplenty in the O'Driscolls Irish Whiskey Beginners Chase, the feature race on student raceday at Tramore on Monday, as only five of the 12 who faced the starter made it to the finish line.
There was little to separate the first four jumping the second last but Black Soul and River Tara fell independently and the hampered Warriors Wood unseated jockey Danny Gilligan.
Ira Hayes had slowed on the approach to that fence and that proved a blessing in disguise as he avoided the carnage before going on to land the spoils by 10 lengths in the hands of Danny Mullins.
“We were probably a bit fortunate to win but he was running a good race anyway,” winning trainer John McConnell said.
“This is definitely his minimum trip, especially on this track, he’s a staying chaser. Danny was very happy with him, he says there’s a good future to be had with him so I’m delighted to get off the mark with him.”
It was a welcome change of luck for McConnell after a difficult month.
He told : “We’ve had a terrible time of it in the yard the last three or four weeks with sickness and stuff, I’ve never had horses run as bad so it’s good to be starting to come out the other side of it now. Hopefully we’ll have a good summer ahead.”
The most unlikely winner of the day came in race four as Just For One came from a seemingly impossible position to claim a dramatic handicap hurdle success.
“It’s brilliant,” jockey James Murphy said of the 14-1 shot, trained in Midleton by his father Donie. “We fancied him at Limerick at Christmas, we kind of set him up for that race and we nearly got there, we just got beat by a better one and I made a mess of it myself, I wanted to go to Thyestes day, I wanted to go for a big day, and it was just too soon, on heavy ground.
“The last day he scoped wrong at Cork so it’s great to get this. His work at home has been extremely good and we thought he should be well capable of winning a race like this.”
Reflecting on how the race unfolded, he added: “I was flat to the boards most of the way but, coming down the hill, he grabbed onto the leading group and I knew that once he hit the rising ground that he was going to gallop up the hill.”
Race five, a mares’ handicap hurdle, also produced a family success as a Lady Bluebird made most of the running in the hands of Eoghan Finegan to oblige at odds of 18-1 for his uncle Hugh.
The winning jockey said: “We’ve been very disappointed with her, we thought she was classy when she won her maiden hurdle and bumper but she’s disappointed since and we said that we’d just rock and roll away [today]. It’s nice to get the job done. Hopefully she can build on it and go forward.
He added: “She jumps brilliant. I was keen to get the others under pressure a long way out because I knew I’d stay galloping.”
Like Lady Bluebird, positive tactics paid off in the handicap chase as the 11-year-old Lake Chad defied his advancing years to claim a fourth win at Tramore.
“He’s a course specialist, he enjoys it around here,” winning trainer Philip Fenton said of the winner, who scored odds of 9-1 under Niall Moore. “We talked about retirement but we’ll go once more, he was on fire today.”
The opening race of the day, a claiming hurdle, was won in impressive fashion by 7-2 shot Tell Us This.
Always travelling well in the hands of Eoin Staples, the Gavin Cromwell-trained seven-year-old hit the front at the second last obstacle and quickly put the race to bed, crossing the line 12 lengths clear of 3-1 favourite You Done Well.
Both divisions of the maiden hurdle were won by the fancied horses but punters who backed Crooked Path in the first of them were made to sweat as the 8-11 hotpot had to dig deep to get the better of Le Tatoue Madrik by a length and a half.
The market leaders traded blows from flagfall but it was the Denis Hogan-trained Crooked Path who was in front where it mattered, La Tatoue Madrik not helping his cause by surrendering ground due to his tendency to jump to his left.
In the second division of the maiden hurdle, 13-8 shot Time Is A Thief sauntered to an 11-length victory for local trainer Henry de Bromhead. It was an important win for Darragh O’Keeffe as it moved him to within five wins of Jack Kennedy in the race to be crowned champion jockey.
The Willie Mullins-trained I Walked The Line was sent off the 4-11 for the finale, a hunters’ chase, and one significant early scare aside, he was in a different league to his rivals and hacked up by 17 lengths.
