Favourite-backers finally catch a break as first AP McCoy and then Ruby Walsh deliver, writes SEAN Mac CONNELLin Punchestown
IT TOOK a hammer and a trowel to plaster the bookies here yesterday. This came after they enjoyed two wonderful days of failed favourites, where it was said they needed wheelbarrows to bring their takings home.
However, the punters had to wait until the second race yesterday before JP McManus, AP McCoy and Tom Mullins managed to produce a joint-favourite win with Dr Whizz, which set about a redistribution of wealth at the festival.
But it was the Hammer and Trowel Syndicate, Seán Deane from Leitrim, and Ger O’Brien from Kildare, with their fabulous mare, Quevega, who rescued the punters from the poorhouse when the Willie Mullins-trained horse won the feature race, the Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle.
“The hammer and trowel represent our trades and that is what we do, a carpenter and a bricklayer, and we are having a great day,” said O’Brien, who told reporters they had asked Mr Mullins to get them a French horse, which he did.
There was delight around the parade ring and the crowd chanted “Ruby, Ruby” for the winning jockey, crowd favourite, Ruby Walsh.
Attendant journalists could not wait to get their hands on Ryanair supremo Michael O’Leary, whose horse Carlito Brigante only managed to come third in the feature, which boasted a prize fund of €160,000.
However, O’Leary was up to the media pack who wanted to know what it was like to be coming well behind JP McManus in the winning owners stakes and a myriad of other questions.
He first put the issue of problems at Aer Lingus away and said he had no interest in buying the Government’s shares in what he termed a “a small, troubled regional airline in Dublin” to which he did not pay much attention. He was not going to waste any more time on it, he said, adding that Ryanair was “busily kicking the crap out of all the bigger European airlines, Air France, BA and Lufthansa” and he had enough to do. However, if the Government share was offered he would consider buying it.
O’Leary said he had enjoyed a very successful Punchestown with Grade One wins on Tuesday and Wednesday which was “brilliant” after no winner for two or three years when the only way he could get on the podium was to sponsor a race. He said JP McManus would be the winning owner in Ireland for the next 10 or 15 years and that his winning the prize last year was an aberration which arose when JP had a bad year.
“He has the best horses, the best operation and we tried to copy him but we are a pale imitation of it,” he said.
Put to him that he was being uncharacteristically modest, the Ryanair chief laughingly said he was “constantly maligned and frequently misunderstood”. He spoke of his ill father whom he said was at home with his feet up watching the racing and making the odd telephone call and he said he hoped his life would be prolonged as long as possible.
Of course there were plenty of well-dressed ladies at the races yesterday, competing for the €1,000 daily prize and a shot at the €10,000 overall prize sponsored by Arnotts.
Louise Lynn, an interior designer from Roscommon, came out tops yesterday.
While the recession may be biting elsewhere, according to Horse Racing Ireland’s chief executive Brian Kavanagh, there has been a steady increase in attendance at racecourses in the first three months of this year and the industry is in a healthy state.
In fact 15 more people were at yesterday’s meeting than on the same day last year. The 2011 figure was 15,527 compared with 15,512 in 2010 and organisers believe that by the end of the week overall attendances will exceed last year.
It was also announced that the Taoiseach Enda Kenny will attend tomorrow to present prizes to the winning owner, trainer and jockey. JP McManus is expected to be named champion owner and Willie Mullins to be champion trainer. And the race for the jockey’s title between Paul Townend and Davy Russell is set to go down to the wire.