The recent impressive run of form being enjoyed by Quin trainer John Hassett continued at Gowran Park last Saturday, where his newcomer, Pay The King, landed the concluding Moincoin flat race under top jockey John Thomas McNamara.

 

On the score sheet last month at Listowel with Lough Ferrib, Hassett, who has masterminded a string of successful gambles during his long career, obviously knew Pay The King was ready to run for his life with the morning price for the son of King’s Theatre tumbling from 12-1 into a well-backed 11-2 shot at the off.

Facing 19 rivals, McNamara had Pay The King in touch for most of this two-mile contest and he looked menacing when moving into fourth with two furlongs to run. Once McNamara hit the furlong pole, he unleashed his mount who stayed on powerfully on the stands side to beat John Nallen’s Minella Hero by a comfortable two-and-a-quarter lengths.

Hassett also owns the winner, who cost €34,000 as a three-year-old and the Balyhannon-based veterinary surgeon reported, “This is a lovely horse. We felt he might need further but we’ve been waiting for nice conditions for him and couldn’t pass up the opportunity of good ground here today.

“He’s a very easy horse to train and looks like having a huge future over jumps. We’ve no major target for him and we’ll see how he comes out of today’s race before firming up any future plans,” added Hassett, who is widely regarded as one of the shrewdest operators in the game.

Star turn on Saturday’s Gowran card was undoubtedly Henry De Bromhead’s Sizing Europe, who made a successful seasonal debut in the Grade 2 PWC Champion Chase.

Successful in the 2011 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham, Sizing Europe was having his first run since winning the Boylesports Champion Chase at Punchestown back in April and he was reunited with regular partner Andrew Lynch, who was returning to the saddle following a spell on the sidelines with a leg injury.

Sent off 11-10 favourite, Sizing Europe tracked 20-1 outsider I Hear A Symphony, who cut out a good gallop up front. Turning across the bottom of the track, Sizing Europe was travelling ominously well with Lynch sitting pretty aboard the 10-year-old, who carries the colours of leading owners Ann and Alan Potts.

Heading towards the penultimate fence, Sizing Europe put his head in front for the first time and quickly sealed victory when forging clear to beat a never-nearer Forpadydeplasterer by seven-and-a-half lengths.
Gallant front-runner I Hear A Symphony ran a huge race to fill third while Mouse Morris’ highly regarded First Lieutenant was first off the bridle when struggling home in fourth.

For winning connections it was the perfect start to Sizing Europe’s season with De Bromhead, who houses a nice yard of horses in his County Waterford stables, reporting, “I’m delighted with that. He was a bit sketchy at a few of his fences today but he’s always that way on his first run and he’ll improve as the season goes on.

“There are a couple of races to consider for him in November and one of those is the jnwine.com Chase at Down Royal. That would mean a step up to three miles but he is adaptable and we’ll see which way we’ll go after weighing up all the options.”

Cee Bee lowers Fitz’s colours

Last Sunday’s Grade 2 Friends Of Tipperary Hurdle at Tipperary threw up a surprise as 9-1 shot Captain Cee Bee got the better of rising star Rebel Fitz with a very easy victory.

Winner of the Galway Hurdle at Ballybrit under Davy Russell, Rebel Fitz was fancied to continue his rise up the hurdling ranks with punters supporting that view when sending Michael Winter’s charge off 4-6 favourite to claim the €34,000 first prize.

Things looked to be going exactly to script when Russell edged his mount to the head of affairs before the home turn, apparently full of running.

That lead was to be short lived however, as Mark Walsh was coming with a well-timed effort aboard Eddie Harty’s Captain Cee Bee who, having tackled Rebel Fitz at the final flight, pulled right away in the closing stages to register an emphatic 11 lengths success.

A top class sort on his day, Captain Cee Bee – he won Cheltenham’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle for his owner JP McManus back in 2008 – was turning the tables on Rebel Fitz, having finished third when the pair clashed at Ballybrit back in August.

Winning trainer Harty outlined, “He’s a very, very good horse and while I know I’m biased, he has never gotten the credit he deserves. To do what he did today, as an 11-year-old, was fantastic and I’m thrilled.”

Connections of runner-up Rebel Fitz could have no quibble with the result as Brian Sweetnam’s French-bred was beaten fair and square on the day. It could be that he has had a hard enough season and this just might have been a bridge too far for him on what was deep ground.

His trainer Mick Winters said, “He’s due a break now and will definitely get one. Davy (Russell) said he just ran out of petrol in the closing stages and the good news is that he has returned in one piece. He’ll probably come back over hurdles in the spring.”

The big disappointment of the race was Willie Mullins’ Thousand Stars. Paul Townend’s mount was seen as the big danger to the favourite but he ran very flat, eventually trailing in fourth having never looked likely to be competitive at any stage of the race.

Meanwhile, next Sunday is the biggest day of the year at Limerick’s Greenmount Park racecourse, where the Ladbrokes Munster National tops the bill.

This Grade A €80,000 three-mile contest has been won by some pretty good horses over the years and Donie Hassett’s Droim Toll features among the 31 entries for the 2012 renewal.

As expected with such a valuable purse on offer, it’s a competitive race, with the likes of Eric McNamara’s Questions Answered, runner-up to his stable companion Faltering Fullback in the Kerry National recently at Listowel, sure be fancied.

Tom Mullins has his Galway Plate winner, Bob Lingo, engaged while Noel Meade’s recent Galway winner, Muirhead, is another who can feature at the business end.

On the point-to-point front, the cancellation of last Sunday’s Tralee fixture meant that the Westmeath Foxhounds session at Castletown-Geoghegan had the stage all to itself.

Tubber jockey Derek O’Connor, who is now in search of his 10th consecutive riders’ championship, continued his bright start to the 2012/13 season when guiding Philip Dempsey’s mare Breffni Gael (5-2) to victory in the five and six-year-old mares’ maiden at the midlands track.