Hope must have leaped into the hearts of those hordes of punters who plunged on Moscow Express down to 4 to 1 at Listowel yesterday when they saw their man danger was the hard-ridden favourite Spokesman. Except that Spokesman confounded the doubters.
The Christy Roche-trained horse has flattered to deceive more than once in the past, and although he won the same Listowel race on a tight rein in 1999, this time he had to fight to win. And fight he did as Alan Crowe pressed for maximum inside the distance.
Moscow Express, who was backed from 8 to 1, certainly didn't flinch but this time neither did Spokesman, who seems to have picked even more than the talent gene from his mother Ravaro. She was an extremely gutsy winner of the Irish Cesarewitch and that race, along with the November Handicap, are targets for her son.
A Jackpot pool of £17,634 was carried forward to today after just the third leg after the 14 to 1 Carton's Bridge (paid almost 3 to 1 on the tote) won the second division of the beginners' chase.
His Co Wexford trainer, Denis Paul Murphy, mainly deals in point-to-pointers and this was just his third success in his third season with a licence, but Carton's Bridge was a point-to-point winner at Stradbally, Co Laois last winter - having fallen at the last fence and been remounted!
The combination of soft ground and stiff fences (the third-last fence was later omitted) contributed to a casualty-filled first division but the favourite, Aldino, still managed to make an impressive winning debut.
There was no more impressive winning debut, however, than Golden Storm's in the Devon Inn Hurdle. He started a 3 to 1 joint favourite with his stable companion, Neutron, but looked by far the best juvenile hurdler seen out in Ireland so far this season when putting 20 lengths between himself and the rest.
"A good horse," was Ruby Walsh's verdict, and trainer Frances Crowley added: "It's a pity the two had to take each other on but I wanted to make sure we'd win it. Golden Storm has been schooling all summer, loves heavy ground and is very athletic but you can never be sure first time out."
Any first-time-out worries that Paul Nolan may have had about Moores Light in the bumper were ignored to the tune of 13 lengths; and Dustin followed up a track victory last year - courtesy of the stewards - by winning on his own merits in the handicap hurdle.
Bookmaker turnover on the first day of the Listowel festival took a dramatic slide, with just £572,345 bet over the eight races. That compares with a figure of £628,432 for the corresponding day of 1999, and that was over seven races. The Tote figure was £166,462 compared with last year's £126,003.
