With rain causing the postponement of the Curragh’s Wednesday fixture, the first action of the racing week took place at Clonmel the following afternoon where Jack Kennedy and Gordon Elliott landed the first winner with 3/1 chance Croke Park in two-mile maiden hurdle. Well in charge in the straight, the Gigginstown House Stud-owned five-year-old raced clear from the second-last flight to win by all of 11 lengths from the Paul Nolan-trained Chiefs Kingdom with Willie Mullins’s 4/6 favourite The Electrical Kid back in third place.
The Kennedy-ridden Firm Footings got the better of two Willie Mullins-trained runners, including another odds-on favourite, to take the opening conditions’ hurdle at Sligo on Friday. The Gordon Elliott-trained 5/1 shot battled well from the final hurdle to beat 4/9 favourite Horantzau D'airy by a length and a quarter with the second Closutton runner, Aime Desjy, half a length away in third place. Kennedy and Elliott later won the three-mile one-furlong maiden hurdle with a short-priced favourite of their own in the shape of the Gigginstown House Stud-owned Will Do. The 2/5 favourite had an easy time of things as he beat the Liz Doyle-trained Insouciant Dallier by six and a half lengths.
Jack Kennedy and Gordon Elliott landed the first of the weekend winners at Galway on Saturday as Kaleosun took the three-year-old maiden hurdle in good style. Owned by Gigginstown House Stud, the easy-to-back 5/2 chance led at the second-last hurdle and comfortably held the Martin Brassil-trained Ose Partir by a length and three-parts. The concluding bumper went the way of the Tom Cooper-trained Butcher Hollow which scored a cosy success of his own. Ridden by County Cork amateur Darragh Allen, the 11/4 chance led four furlongs from the finish and went clear before the straight to win by four and a half lengths from Gavin Cromwell’s The Other Mozzie in the colours of owners Ciaran Mooney and John Ryan.
Sundays action at Ballybrit yielded two more winners to the Cullentra trainer and his stable jockey and again they got the day off to the perfect start as Miss Agusta took the two-mile mares’ maiden hurdle. Another for Gigginstown House Stud, the 11/8 favourite led before the final hurdle to beat the Barry Fitzgerald-trained 50/1 chance Saddle Her Up by two and a quarter lengths. At odds of 1/9 favourite, Search For Glory won the two-mile five-furlong maiden hurdle to complete the double for trainer, jockey and the owner. Predictably, the six-year-old had an easy time of it and scored by 10 lengths from the Declan Queally-trained Alvarez Eclipse, the 7/1 second favourite.
Other Racing News
Early Cheltenham success for Irish raiders
Gavin Cromwell and Keith Donoghue were among the winners at the first meeting of the season at Cheltenham on Friday. The trainer added to his double at Clonmel on the previous afternoon with two more winners and this time Donoghue rode them both. Alymer Stud’s My Mate Mozzie impressed with his success in the near two-mile novice chase, coming through between horses hard on the bridle after the final fence to win by an easy three lengths at odds of 4/7 favourite. On his first start for Cromwell, the Derek Kierans-owned Encanto Bruno scored a similarly impressive win in the two-mile three-furlong novice hurdle. He too was full of running when leading after the final hurdle to win by two lengths for the Gordon Elliott-trained Mel Monroe. Rachael Blackmore and Darragh O'Keeffe each rode a winner over fences for Henry de Bromhead at the track on Saturday. Blackmore partnered Sean and Bernardine Mulryan’s Aintree festival winner Dancing On My Own to a two-length success at odds of 14/1 in the near two-mile handicap chase while O’Keeffe took the three-mile one-furlong handicap chase on 12/1 chance Whacker Clan, owned by the Whacker Clan Syndicate, which ran out a three-length winner. Gavin Cromwell and Keith Donoghue scored with the dual Stayers’ Hurdle hero Flooring Porter which made a winning start to his career over fences in the three-mile novice chase. The eight-year-old impressed at odds of 6/4 favourite.
Upcoming Fixtures
Curragh – Tuesday, October 31 (First Race 12.20pm)
Dundalk – Wednesday, November 1 (First Race 2pm)
Thurles – Thursday, November 2 (First Race 12.55pm)
Dundalk – Friday, November 3 (First Race 5.30pm)
Down Royal – Friday, November 3 (First Race 12.29pm)
Down Royal – Saturday, November 4 (First Race 12.50pm)
Cork – Sunday, November 5 (First Race 12.20pm)
Curragh – Sunday, November 5 (First Race 12.10pm)
