Punchestown report: Paul Carberry might not have had any ammunition from the Noel Meade yard but that didn't prevent the former champion jockey landing a 272 to 1 big-race double at Punchestown yesterday.
Meade's decision to not make any weekend entries due to a recent run of poor form meant his jockey was quickly snapped up by the very much in-form Henry De Bromhead for Mister Watzisname's 20 to 1 victory in the Byrne Group Novice Hurdle.
The day's other Grade Two, the Tied Cottage Chase, also fell to a Carberry outsider, with Don't Be Bitin' beating Tumbling Dice after the former champion chaser Newmill was brought down at the second last by the faller, Vintage Treasure.
Neither result cut much ice in ante-post betting for Cheltenham, however, with both winners likely to bypass the festival.
"I don't think Cheltenham would suit him and the key to him is soft ground which is unlikely there anyway," said De Bromhead after Mister Watzisname's length-and-a-half defeat of Raven's Run. "It's been a great week, with Sizing Europe winning a Grade One and now this. Sizing Europe is in great form and was really full of himself yesterday."
De Bromhead admitted he was initially thinking in terms of place-money for Mister Watzisname but snow showers before racing provided very testing ground which in turn forced the withdrawal of Captain Cee Bee.
"Seasoned handicappers were struggling on the ground in the first and I was afraid the horse would lose confidence in his jumping or do something stupid," said Captain Cee Bee's trainer Eddie Harty. "He's in the Deloitte next Sunday but if there's no change in the going he could go instead for a mile-and-a-half race at Dundalk's first meeting."
Newmill is likely to go straight to Cheltenham after being dramatically brought down in his final festival warm-up. "He's fine. He wouldn't have won but it would have been better to have come in placed rather than falling like that," said his trainer, John Murphy.
Aintree is more in Eoin Griffin's thoughts for Don't Be Bitin' although the trainer was quick to stress: "I don't know what to make of the race. I just hope we're not murdered in the ratings and the handicapper takes account of the conditions. But that's a good pot to win and he deserves it."
Both Heads Onthe Ground and Garde Champetre are 8 to 1 with Cashmans for the Cross-Country Chase at Cheltenham after Garde Champetre led home an Enda Bolger one-two in yesterday's PP Hogan Memorial over the banks.
Bolger has had Garde Champetre for less than two months and he said: "After Paul Nicholls and Jonjo (O'Neill) I thought he'd be like an orange with all the good squeezed out of him! He'll go to Cheltenham, along with Heads, and they'll both like better ground."
Davy Russell hit the 99 winner mark for the season with Chelsea Harbour's gallant win in the three-mile-and-five-furlong Grand National Trial. The topweight overcame a tendency to jump left to beat Arbor Supreme by seven lengths.
