Remarkable Fr Gilligansvoyage leads 142/1 Tramore double for Paddy O'Brien
Fr Gilligansvoyage & Paddy O'Broen win the I.P.R.S. Handicap Steeplechase at Tramore. Pic: Healy Racing
Remarkable 13-year-old Fr Gilligansvoyge and jockey Paddy O’Brien earned the plaudits on the second day of Tramore’s August festival.
Trained by John Carr, Fr Gilligansvoyge (14/1) produced a bold, front-running display under O’Brien to land the I.P.R.S. Handicap Chase at the expense of Set The Tone, the gelding's third win from 47 runs over fences.
Carr enthused, “He was fourth in the Ladies Cup at Punchestown in April and hasn’t finished out of the money since. We’ve made one change with him this year – he goes to Laytown every day and loves the strand.” And he quipped, “He’s been a great servant and I hope he stays sound forever.”
O’Brien completed a 142/1 double when the Pat Collins-trained Small Bucks got up late to foil Rare Times in the John Fairbrother Memorial Mares Handicap Hurdle, prompting her trainer to comment, “The ground was too soft for her in Galway – she needs to hear her feet rattling.”
The season’s leading rider Darragh O’Keeffe notched his 25th winner of the campaign when Anyway bounced back to form in the Seamus Byrne Electrical Chase, foiling More Coko.
The 13/2 winner, who was recording his second victory over fences, is trained by Ken Budds, who said, “He lost his way, but small fields suit. This should be a good confidence-booster and we must discuss where to go next.”
Owned by J P McManus, the 107-rated Simple Things put her experience to good use in the Majestic Hotel Maiden Hurdle, Philip Dempsey’s charge, ridden by 5lb claimer Peter Smithers getting the better of World As One by a neck as the pair stretched ten lengths clear of the rest.
“She’s been knocking on the door and had a nice run in Galway, so it’s great that she got her head in front,” said Dempsey.
Mags Mullins declared, “She has a lovely page, has been a bit backward but is improving,” after Kenny’s Jewel, ridden by J J Slevin, mastered wayward Room For One More in the Walsh Butler Electrical Mares (Unplaced) Maiden hurdle.
And, having hit the crossbar with More Coko, World As One and Room For One More (all filled the runner-up berth earlier), Willie Mullins, a Director of Tramore, got off the mark for the 2026 festival when newcomer Long’way, a five-year-old Galiway mare, justified 4/5 favouritism in the bumper, the Clem Jacob Hire Flat Race.
