RACING:Winning at the Punchestown Festival is rarely a straight-forward matter and Mansony's dramatic victory in yesterday's featured Kerrygold Champion Chase only emphasised the point.
Davy Russell's ability to keep weight off a tall frame means the Cork-born jockey isn't entirely unfamiliar with disappearing tricks but the way he smuggled Mansony through from the rear of the field was a touch of magic that stumped his opposition in some style.
Certainly the Arthur Moore- trained horse looked a much longer price than his 13 to 2 SP for almost all of the two-mile highlight that saw Tony McCoy and Justified fight off all-comers only to finally lose out in the dying strides.
"Full credit to Davy. He rode a beautiful race," beamed Moore whose plan to find out how good Mansony is in the highest company got the perfect answer. "I always wanted to try him in this sort of Grade One company. He's a super horse, very consistent, and now we can look at the Grade One programme next season."
Russell added: "I was riding to be placed but at the third last I realised we had a chance and the horse gave me everything." Mansony holds an entry in today's Guinness Gold Cup but Moore added: "He's unlikely to run. We will see how he is in the morning but we don't want to be greedy!"
Justified's defeat put the seal on a day of frustration for trainer Dusty Sheehy who said: "I didn't think the winner was going to get there but he has - that's life."
Such equanimity was even more admirable considering that his pair of outsiders, Holly Tree and Rindoon, had earlier somehow managed to lose out to the favourite Clopf in the Grade One vcbet champion novice hurdle.
After setting a scorching pace, Rindoon and Michael Darcy looked to have only the stable companion to contend with before the turn in. However, when Rindoon briefly drifted off the rail, Tony McCoy tried for a run up the inner and the pair collided to such an extent when Rindoon came back in again that Clopf suddenly re-emerged as a threat. Edward O'Grady's horse took full advantage and the trainer is confident an even better Clopf will be on show next season. Bookmaker reaction was to cut him to as low as 16 to 1 for next year's Champion Hurdle.
Rindoon and Holly Tree had their positions reversed by the stewards afterwards and Darcy was cautioned for careless riding.
Aces Four started favourite for the Grade One Ellier Champion Novice Chase but the English- based raider took a crashing fall at the last which handed victory to the outsider of the Charlie Swan pair, Offshore Account.
Ferdy Murphy's horse was lucky to eventually walk away but his jockey Graham Lee had to be taken to hospital for X-rays to a suspected fractured elbow.
"I think I would have won anyway. I took a pull turning for home," said Offshore Account's rider Denis O'Regan while Swan added: "The Gold Cup would have to be at the back of our minds next season. He won on the worst of the ground during the winter so he must have a bit of class."
Davy Condon was stood down for three weeks with concussion and was taken to hospital for X-rays to his back after a crashing fall from Streetshavenoname in the handicap hurdle won by Charlies First who completed a double for Clopf's jockey Barry Geraghty. Some good horses have won the Goffs Land Rover Bumper in the past and Gonebeyondrecall looked a top prospect when bolting up by nine lengths yesterday.
Wills Wilde repeated his 2006 success in the handicap chase but it was only by a neck that he hung on from the fast-finishing Torrid Kentavr while Adrian Joyce guided Logans Run to a three-and-a half-length defeat of Deal Maker in the concluding bumper.
A crowd of 17,974 was a 16 per cent increase on last year. They bet a new first-day Tote record of €889,830.
Bookmaker turnover was up almost half a million to €2,585,782 with the Grade One novice chase generating €476,132.
