IS A REAL CHAMP (6/4) was unphased by the step into open company for the first time in his career as the progressive eight-year-old became just the fifth horse to move onto the four-winner mark for the season with victory in the novice rider’s open.

It was not a straightforward task with recent Castlelands victor A Rated in the line-up, and the pair raced alongside each other for much of the contest, however it was the less experienced Getaway gelding that produced the quicker jumps throughout under Robbie Jackson.

That helped him on his way to a one-and-a-half-length defeat of the odds-on favourite to provide his 21-year-old winning rider with his opening success of the campaign.

“This is a great horse to have, and I am very lucky to have him,” winning handler Sean Doyle said of the Monbeg Partnership-owned gelding who is now set to be aimed at a hunter chase at Cork on Easter Monday. “Robbie [Jackson] works for me at home and I am delighted to give him the winner today because he ran the yard for me last week when I wasn’t there.”

Notable week

That success was a third of the weekend for Doyle at the conclusion of what was a notable week for his operation with Love Envoi and American Mike among his former charges that came to the fore at the Cheltenham Festival, and he has high hopes for Private Ryan (5/2 – 3/1 favourite), his latest maiden winner following his victory in the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.

The son of Presenting had left two falls behind him when finishing third to the subsequent £180,000 seller Captain Checkdown at Ballinaboola last month, and the €65,000 store purchase justified his position at the top of the market by getting the better of a protracted battle up the straight with the recent Castlelands fourth Imperial Alex.

Like Doyle’s earlier winner, he too was sporting the Monbeg Partnership colours having provided Jamie Scallan with his ninth winner of the campaign, as the Wexford rider’s best season to date continues to go from strength to strength.

The silks of the 2021 champion point-to-point horse High Stakes were back in the winner’s enclosure when Cash Book (5/1) made the best possible start to his career in the older geldings’ maiden.

The six-year-old was confidently delivered by James Walsh to come from off the pace inside the final mile and once moving through to lead at the penultimate fence he was always holding Turnthelightsoff.

THE mare Rose Of Coolbally has provided Willie Murphy and his wife Moira McElligott with no fewer than four victories this season, and they were understandably pleased to welcome her half-brother Rock On Cowboy (5/2 – 2/1 favourite) into the winner’s enclosure following his win in the adjacent maiden, as the success marked a first on home soil for his sire Snow Sky who stands with Murphy at Ballycurragh Stud.

The former three-time group winner, who has already had two second-placed finishers in four-year-old maidens last year, including the subsequent £110,000 seller Snowy Evening, opened his account in this sphere when Rock On Cowboy defeated Baldur’s Gate by four lengths in the hands of Pa King.

“Pat Doyle who has been helping us for 40 years owns him and it is brilliant to get a winner for him,” reported Murphy. “He will likely go to the sales, or if not we will go for a bumper with him. I think he is very good.”

Horse to follow

Our Bab (Matthew Flynn O’Connor): This Walk In The Park mare had not jumped with particular fluency on her debut, however she was still in the process of running a big race when crashing out with three to jump. She is one to note when re-appearing.

JACK Hendrick has ridden seven winners from his last six racedays in the pointing fields, and he recoded his second double of the month, which was initiated by the victory of Fancy Girl (2/1 – 5/2 favourite) in the four-year-old mares’ maiden.

Always to the fore in the strongly run opener, the Cormac Doyle-trained mare was left clear at the third-last fence by the departure of the challenging Our Bab, from where she always looked to be in control to defeat the staying-on Dysart Enos.

Her two-length victory was a second winner of the weekend in the four-year-old division for the late Champs Elysees, and the Monbeg Farm Racing Partnership-owned mare is now likely to be offered for sale.

The Mayglass native then teamed-up fellow Wexford native Gary Murphy, who is himself enjoying a good spell of late, with the former rider turned handler having only saddled his first winner at Ballycahane a fortnight earlier, and he doubled his career tally in the five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden courtesy of the newcomer Ya Know Yasseff (5/1).

Bred by Francis Whelan of the winning owner’s Turbine Syndicate, colours carried to success in the 2013 Troytown Chase by Cootamundra, the Jet Away mare (pictured) took full advantage of her always prominent position to defeat the favourite and recent Tinahely

second Getabelle by three lengths. “She did a piece of work with my four-year-old winner, and off that piece of work we were fairly confident coming here,” reported the winning handler, who having previously ridden 37 winners across 12 seasons in the pointing fields, now currently has 12 horses riding out.