Rest of the card
AN already memorable season for young rider Simon Torrens took a dramatic turn for the better as the highly promising 5lb claimer showcased his talents in spectacular style with a big handicap double for J.P. McManus.
Torrens completed his brace in the Ladbrokes Hurdle aboard his old ally Drop The Anchor who gave the jockey what was then the biggest success of his career when landing a big pot at Listowel in September.
The Pat Fahy-trained five-year-old possibly hadn’t enjoyed the best of fortune in two subsequent starts but it all came together for the seven-year-old in one of the hottest handicaps of the year.
Torrens bided his time off a typically frenetic early pace and Drop The Anchor (8/1) had work to do from midfield nearing the straight. The rider deftly threaded his way into a challenging position at the last and the winner then finished out his race with a particularly strong charge to surge by Champagne Gold and carry the day by a length and a quarter with Saint D’Oroux taking third ahead of West Cork Wildway.
“It’s great. He needs a test in the closing stages of his race which he got here,” commented Fahy. “He’s not a big horse but he’s very tough. We didn’t have all the luck on his two runs since Listowel. This was the plan to come here and see could we keep him right for this.”
O’Brien winner
Earlier, Torrens teamed up with A Wave Of The Sea to land the Matheson Handicap Chase over an extended two miles. A winner of the Grade 1 juvenile hurdle at this meeting last year, A Wave Of The Sea had struggled somewhat since winning his beginners’ chase at Kilbeggan in September but Joseph O’Brien produced the 12/1 shot in great shape for his second handicap venture.
The complexion of this changed quite a bit from two out to the run to the last and it was at this point where the axis of Joseph O’Brien and J.P. McManus looked to hold all the aces. Their Entoucas led nearing the final fence but he surrendered the lead to A Wave Of The Sea who then lasted home by neck from another O’Brien and McManus representative in the 50/1 chance Top Moon.
“It’s nice to get a winner and they all ran very well there. He struggled a little bit in graded company and then moved into handicaps and today was probably as good as he jumped,” commented O’Brien. “We’ll see how he comes out of it and what the handicapper but he could easily head across to Cheltenham for a handicap.”
A DAY of days for Willie Mullins ended in spectacular fashion as Kilcruit, ridden by his son Patrick and bred by his mother Maureen, produced a stunning display in the Grade 2 Goffs Future Stars (C&G) Flat Race.
This Margaret Masterson-owned gelding looked top notch when winning a Navan bumper two months previously and here he produced one of the finest bumper performances seen on an Irish racecourse in recent seasons. Kilcruit (11/10) was ridden with supreme confidence by Patrick Mullins as he took on nine rivals, all of whom had won bumpers, and hardly broke sweat.
He eased through from off the pace to lead well over a furlong out, without his rider having to move a muscle, and hit the line on the bridle with 12 lengths to spare over Letsbeclearaboutit. The sky is the limit for this six-year-old and he sets a daunting standard in this division as the championship bumpers of the spring loom large.
“I thought Patrick had picked the wrong one, how wrong was I? Ramillies (fifth) put up a great performance here at Christmas but Patrick had huge confidence in this horse and now I can see why,” reflected the trainer. “I didn’t think he had that sort of capability. It was a superb performance in what looked a very good race.”