Racing

Leopardstown Day 4: Sharjah powers home to win fourth Matheson Hurdle

Earlier, Gordon Elliott’s Fury Road won the Neville Hotels Novice Chase

Sharjah ridden by Patrick Mullins gets past Zanahiyr to win the Matheson Hurdle during day four of the Leopardstown Christmas Festival. Photo: Donall Farmer/PA Wire

Brian O'Connor's face
Brian O'Connor at Leopardstown
Wed Dec 29 2021 - 15:07

On the final day of Leopardstown’s Christmas festival Sharjah emulated no less than Hurricane Fly and Istabraq with a fourth Matheson Hurdle victory only to quickly find himself in the shadow of a contemporary.

Patrick Mullins had barely got off his old ally in the winners enclosure than talk moved to dethroning Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.

Sharjah chased the unbeaten star home in last season’s championship - having also finished runner up to Epatante in 2020 - but bookmakers weren’t alone in suspecting the pecking order won’t change.

Asked about beating Honeysuckle, Willie Mullins was pretty unequivocal.

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“You might have to find someone else to do that. I don’t know whether we can anyway. None of those (Wednesday’s field) look like they can do it.

“If she gets there on the day she’ll be hard to beat,” he said.

Nevertheless, if it has always seemed Sharjah’s lot to be damned for what he isn’t rather than what he is then his persistent qualities at last seem to be earning him appropriate recognition.

His three previous victories in Wednesday’s €150,000 feature proved his potent finishing kick. This time the 5-6 favourite had to be dogged to overhaul Zanahiyr by a neck after much going against him.

Hampered coming out of the back straight, he also had to be switched before the turn in and with the final flight omitted Sharjah found himself on the previous day’s chewed up ground.

None of it stopped him earning comparisons to evocative names of the past in this particular context at least and only the absence of spectators through Covid-19 restrictions prevented proper public appreciation.

“He’s a very special horse and it’s great to emulate Hurricane Fly and Istabraq. They’re two proper legends,” Patrick Mullins said. “He’s not as good as them - but they didn’t win four in a row!”

Sharjah has been the main contributor to the 13-time amateur champion’s tally of 21 career Grade 1 victories and could still get another crack at the Champion Hurdle in March.

“We might go to straight to Cheltenham now. I’ll have word with Rich and Susannah (Ricci) but it might be the thing to do. The Dublin Racing Festival doesn’t seem to work for him” Mullins Snr said.

The big race victory put a seal on another lucrative Christmas for the Mullins team with 11 winners over Leopardstown’s four days. The final one, The Nice Guy, completed a Mullins clean sweep of all four Leopardstown bumpers.

With three other winners at Limerick, as well as Torando Flyer’s King George victory, the champion trainer equalled his 2020 Christmas haul of 15 winners in all.

“To me, Tornado Flyer and Danny winning the King George was fantastic and most things went right here all week,” he said.

Gordon Elliott had five winners at Leopardstown - and four others elsewhere - with Fury Road supplying a third Grade 1 in Wednesday’s Neville Hotels Novice Chase.

First-time cheek-pieces seemed to transform Fury Road who was eight lengths too good for his stable companion, the 9-4 favourite Run Wild Fred.

“I thought he had a great chance in the Drinmoe but he kind of pulled up when he got to the front. The cheek-pieces seemed to work well,” Elliott said. “I wasn’t here last year because I had Covid so this week has been pretty good!”

In contrast, Henry De Bromhead’s uniquely successful 2021 ended with a Christmas period that could be optimistically described as mixed.

However the trainer’s inclination towards pessimism meant he wasn’t sugar-coating it on Wednesday after his latest exciting novice Journey With Me won a maiden hurdle.

“He’s bucked the trend of our Christmas anyway, one of the few to buck it. He must be a good horse if he can win this week!” De Bromhead joked.

The fact Envoi Allen landed a Grade 1 here on Monday indicates how any dip in stable form is relative.

However on the back of Minella Indo’s King George flop on St Stephens Day and A Plus Tard’s narrow Savills Chase defeat came more evidence on Wednesday that the De Bromhead team will be happy to see the New Year.

Quilixios looked to have a Grade 2 at Limerick in the bag only to be overhauled late by Teahuppo while Mr Incredible refused to start in the big novice chase at Leopardstown.

It all underlined the positive impression made by Journey With Me whose odds on emulating stable companion Bob Olinger in the Ballymore at Cheltenham were cut to 6-1.

“I suppose it’s not a bad sign but let’s see - he’s won a maiden hurdle,” said De Bromhead who reported Minella Indo to have come back “shook” from Kempton.

“I’ve never seen him tucked up and tightened up and he just look shook when came back. He definitely didn’t come back like he normally would come back.

“I might have been trying to put a square peg into a round hole, I don’t know. The most important thing now is to get him back and get him as good as we can for the spring which is when he always seems to turn up in fairness to him,” he added.

Day 4 of Leopardstown was much more memorable for jockey Kevin Sexton who had previously never ridden a winner at the track.

He put that right with a vengeance as Royal Kahala edged out Heaven Help Us in the Grade 3 mares hurdle and then doubled up on Good Time Jonny in a handicap.