Broken leg setback for O’Connor

Champion jockey Derek O’Connor will not ride at this year’s Cheltenham Festival and is facing up to 10 weeks out of action as a result of a broken leg he suffered in a crashing fall at Musselburgh last Thursday.
Flying high at the head of the 2011/12 point-to-point jockeys’ table with 46 winners (25 clear of his nearest rival, Bon O’Neill), O’Connor headed to the Scottish venue last Thursday to partner Simonsberg for Northern Ireland trainer Ian Ferguson in a hunter’s chase but it all went wrong when the son of Sonus crashed through the fourth-last fence, giving O’Connor a horrible tumble.
Sadly, Simonsberg’s fall was fatal, with O’Connor also coming out the worse for wear as he suffered a break to his left leg just above the shin.
The Tubber rider was transferred to Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary Hospital, where he was fitted with a plaster that looks set to remain in place for between eight to 10 weeks.
Speaking to The Clare Champion earlier this week, a philosophical O’Connor was looking on the bright side of things, saying, “I have been very fortunate with injuries up to now and this is by far the worst that I’ve suffered since I started riding. To be honest, I’ve had a great run of it and I cannot complain at all about this setback.”
A modern-day legend of the sport, eight-time champion O’Connor, who ended his Cheltenham Festival hoodoo last year aboard Gordon Elliott’s Chicago Grey in the four-miler before quickly adding to his tally when partnering Zemsky to victory in the Foxhunter’s, is hoping to make it back before the point-to-point season comes to a close over the June Bank Holiday weekend.
“I know I have to be patient but the good news is that it’s a clean break and I didn’t have to have surgery on it, which will be a big help to the healing process. I’m hoping to be back as close as I can to the eight- week marker and all is not lost where this season is concerned,” said the 29-year-old. 

Big crowd expected for Killaloe

Point-to-point racing takes place in the Banner County for second time this month with Sunday’s East Clare Harriers’ meeting at Killaloe set to attract a big crowd to the Garranboy track.
Always an enjoyable fixture, Sunday’s six-race card, which will be run over the well-appointed lands of the Flynn family, kicks off at 1pm with a winners-of-two race. Half an hour later, the runners will go to post for a five and six-year-old geldings’ maiden, which will be followed by a similar event for mares. A seven-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden is next on the list, with an older mares’ maiden the penultimate event. What is always a well-contested mares’ open lightweight will bring the meeting to a close.
Over the past few years, racing at Killaloe has been very competitive and this year’s renewal is expected to go very much along those lines, with a total of 96 entries listed for duty.
East Clare Hunt spokesman Gerry English is looking forward to a great day’s racing. He said, “We’ve had a huge amount of interest from all over the country ahead of Sunday’s meeting and that’s very nice to see.  A lot of hard work goes into organising a fixture like this and it’s very rewarding when a big crowd turns out.”
Reporting the track in A1 condition for Sunday’s action, he continued, “Thanks to the Flynn family, the course is in great condition, with a lovely covering of grass on it and that should lead to near perfect going for all the participants. We’ve had some very good horses compete here in the past and I’m sure that will be the case again this time round.
“We will be providing plenty of car parking in the fields adjacent to the course and our aim is to make it an enjoyable experience for all concerned,” concluded the hunt official  
As expected, many of the leading trainers in Clare have entries on Sunday’s card, including Quin-based Brian Hassett, who has a terrific record here both as a jockey and since he hung up his riding boots to concentrate on training.  The Sixmilebridge-based Quinn brothers, Joe and Denis, Paurick O’Connor and John O’Neill, are other local handlers capable of plundering some of the prizes on offer.
A quick glance over past results reveals that visiting trainers such as Eric McNamara, Michael Hourigan and Eugene O’Sullivan all know what it takes to win here and their runners will be closely monitored throughout the afternoon.
On the jockey front, former champion John Thomas McNamara has a superb strike rate at this venue and it will be something of a surprise if the Croom native leaves this year’s meeting empty-handed. ‘Corky’ Carroll, Roger Quinlan and Liz Lalor must also be respected while Paul O’Neill, Niall Kelleher and James Conheady will fly the flag for the local lads.
All in all, fans are in for a real treat on Sunday with the picturesque rolling hills of East Clare set to rattle and hum to the sound of jump racing at its best.

Rubi Light on course for Ryanair

Rubi Light did his 2012 Ryanair Chase aspirations no harm at all when running out a facile winner of the Grade 2 Red Mills Chase at Gowran Park last Saturday.
Robbie Hennessy’s seven-year-old is a classy performer on his day and he underlined his Cheltenham claims here with a bold front-running display.
Just five faced the starter in this two-and-a-half-mile contest with in-form Andrew Lynch bouncing 2/5 favourite Rubi Light straight into the lead.
By halfway, the partnership were in total command, drawing ever further clear on the run to line to beat Grand National-bound runner-up Chicago Grey by a comfortable 16 lengths.  
Winning Dublin-born trainer, Robbie Hennessy was thrilled with his charges’ performance, saying, “That was just what the doctor ordered. He travelled really well all the way and had a nice school around.  Andrew (Lynch) was very impressed with him and his next stop will be the Ryanair at Cheltenham.  Today’s race should leave him spot-on for that and we’ll be praying for rain, as if we get soft ground there we’ll be laughing.”
The other Grade 2 contest on offer at the Kilkenny track was the Red Mills Hurdle, with victory here going to the impressive Zaidpour.
Willie Mullins’ charge went off a very restrictive 2/9 shot to account for his five rivals and the Rich Ricci-owned six-year-old justified those cramped odds with the minimum of fuss.
Paul Townend sent the son of Red Ransom, who was dropping back to minimum trip here, having accounted for Voler La Vedette over three miles at this course three weeks earlier, to the front four out and he was never in the slightest danger from that point when pulling right away on the rain-sodden ground to beat Sabrina Harty’s Kalann by six-and-a-half lengths.
Mullins now faces something of a dilemma with the winner who, should he travel to Cheltenham, would surely have to take on Big Buck’s in the World Hurdle.
It may well pan out that Mullins might opt to keep Zaidpour at home with the Fairyhouse and Punchestown festivals in mind.
There was plenty of interesting action across the water over the weekend, with Long Run completing his Cheltenham Gold Cup preparations in the rearranged Betfair Denman Chase at Newbury last Friday.
Regular partner, Sam Waley-Cohen was on board Nicky Henderson’s star chaser and, while the 4/7 shot won, his performance would have to described as ‘workmanlike’ rather than brilliant when accounting for stable companion Burton Port by half a length.
At least Long Run did turn in a fluent round of jumping but it has to factored in that Burton Port was returning from a 15-month absence and Long Run had to be shaken up to get the better of Barry Geraghty’s mount.
For many, the eagerly awaited Gold Cup clash of reigning champion Long Run and previous dual-winner Kauto Star promises to be the highlight of next month’s Cheltenham festival but followers of Kauto Star will be worried on hearing the news earlier this week that Paul Nicholls’ yard has been hit with a bout of coughing.
As a result, Nicholls was forced to cancel a planned pre-Cheltenham Festival media open day at his stables earlier this week and, with the big Cheltenham meeting now just around the corner, that is a real worry for the Ditcheat handler as he bids to put the finishing touches to his powerful Festival 2012 team.