Jump racing’s essential unpredictability was underlined once again when the 28-1 outsider Home By The Lee landed Sunday’s Grade Two Navan feature in unlikely style.
Fresh from winning on the exciting novice chaser Banbridge at Cheltenham on Saturday, jockey JJ Slevin looked to have a mammoth task on his hands when forced into applying pressure to Home By The Lee with a circuit to go in the Railway Bar Lismullen Hurdle.
Those betting ‘in-running’ could avail of massive 999-1 odds on Home By The Lee, reflective too of how his opposition included the dual-Stayers champion Flooring Porter, the Champion Hurdle placed Zanahyir, and the enigma that is increasingly proving to be Bob Olinger.
A well backed 13-8 favourite, for much of the race Bob Olinger was the polar opposite to Home By The Lee, if anything travelling almost too well in Rachael Blackmore’s hands, and looking like he would justify the decision to return to hurdling in spectacular style.
Flooring Porter folded tamely from the lead before three out by which time Bob Olinger looked to be cantering while Slevin had somehow persuaded Home By The Lee up on his outside to launch a challenge.
If it all looked over bar the shouting, when the pressure was applied from the last Bob Olinger faded disappointingly quickly and Home By The Lee pulled off as improbable a big-race success as is likely to be seen this season.
Slevin, a cousin of Home By The Lee’s trainer Joseph O’Brien, labelled his partner a “strange fellah” with a habit of hitting a flat spot which this time looked to at least occur early enough to give him a chance to recover.
“The one thing he does is hit this flat spot, but JJ knows him well and you’d have to say it was nearly ride of the season so far,” O’Brien’s representative, Brendan Powell, said.
Blackmore echoed that view of Slevin’s spin with a verdict of “unbelievable” while also confessing to be “a bit shocked” by Bob Olinger’s performance.
Henry De Bromhead said he could extend Bob Olinger out to three miles for the three-time Grade One winner at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting which this time will be named after his late son, Jack. But he too was left scrambling for answers.
“I was probably disappointed to lose but if Home By The Lee wasn’t in the race, we’d have all been doing backflips. I don’t know what to make of it really - did we run under par or did he run over par?
“I thought he hurdled well and I loved seeing how well he travelled,” he said.
“We lacked a run and will definitely improve for fitness. If we had been beaten by one of the other two, we probably would have said ‘that’s grand’ and I don’t want to knock the winner, he was brilliant,” he added.
On the first of five successive Sundays broadcast live on RTÉ, it was a reminder to casual viewers of the dangers of taking anything for granted during the winter game.
Bob Olinger’s eclipse even took place on a day when Henry De Bromhead’s team were in obviously good form.
Blackmore guided Spirit Of Legend to success in the opening maiden hurdle while Captain Guinness took advantage of a depleted field to land the Grade Three Muldoon & Gormley Fortria Chase.
In the absence Ferny Hollow in particular, Blackmore was able to dominate on Captain Guinness who had a length and a half in hand of the odds-on favourite Riviere D’etel.
“He had done a lot of work for this, we had targeted it during the summer and it seemed the right race for him. He’s some horse to leap,” De Bromhead said.
