Point-to-point success for Hynes and Kearney

Crusheen racing enthusiasts John Hynes and Brendan Kearney struck gold as the mare they jointly own, 6/4 favourite The Malteasiereyes, won at the first time of asking when successful in a division of the five and six-year-old mares’ maiden at last Sunday’s United Hunt point-to-point meeting at Ballindenisk, County Cork.
The daughter of Blueprint, who was ridden by champion jockey Derek O’Connor, is trained in Conna, Cork by Grand National-winning trainer Jimmy Mangan. 
Heading towards the final fence, the five-year-old was running on well from the rear as the Eoin McDonagh-ridden Lady Boulea assumed command up front. She fell here, however, hampering the challenging Strange Bird, who unseated her rider, allowing O’Connor pop The Malteasereyes over the last for a facile 10-length success over runner-up Lucy’s Legend.
While the winner may well have had the rub of the green on this occasion, she looks a smart mare with a big future. Mangan divulged, “I hold this mare in very high regard and it takes a good one to win first time out. She is very well bred, as her dam won five or six chases and I imagine that will be this lady’s game as well. She’ll hardly appear again this term and well look forward to running her on the track next season.”
It was a profitable day for O’Connor at the Leeside venue, where he kept up his relentless pursuit of an eighth consecutive jockeys’ title when riding a four-timer.
O’Connor, who is the winning-most rider in the history of point-to-points in Ireland with over 700 winners, opened his account when guiding the Gary Aherne-trained even-money favourite Sunken Secret to victory in the confined maiden. 
Half an hour later, the seven-time champion was back in the number one berth as he steered Tyrone Golden Rain, owned and trained by brother Paurick, to victory in the open lightweight.
Sent of 4/7 favourite, Tyrone Golden Rain eased to the front two before pulling away in the closing stages for an effortless eight-length victory over recent Lisronagh winner Castle Lake.
“He’s back to his best, thank God,” said the winning trainer, who was registering his 16th victory of the 2010/11 campaign. “I gave him a little break and it was very nice to see the way he jumped today. He really winged his fences and Derek was delighted with him. He’ll run again next weekend somewhere and may even go to Stratford for a Hunter’s Chase over there,” added the Tubber handler.
Sunday’s haul, which included a victory aboard Willie Murphy’s 6/4 shot Not De Mama in the first division of the mares’ maiden, added to Saturday’s double at Toomebridge, leaves O’Connor on the 94-winner mark for the season, three ahead of championship rival Jamie Codd.
Quin owner John Hassett was also on the mark on Sunday’s card as his Autumn Day (4/1-2/1) ran out a good winner in the first division of the concluding six-year-old geldings’ maiden. This James O’Gorman-trained son of Milan, who filled the runner berth in the confined maiden at Bellharbour back in February, benefitted from a confident ride by John Daniel Moore when running on strongly in the closing stages to beat runner-up For Sahkey Moony by a length.

Fallon back in Ballydoyle favour
When Johnny Murtagh stepped down as first jockey to Aidan O’Brien  at the end of last season, there was much speculation as to who would replace the Meath man in what is regarded as the plum job in Irish racing.
In the end, O’Brien opted to, in his own words, ‘use the best available’ and he certainly did that when tuning to Kieren Fallon to ride hot-pot Recital (1/2F) in the Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown last Sunday.
Fallon and O’Brien enjoyed plenty of big-race success when the Ballinruan man was number one at the Ballydoyle yard from 2005 to 2008 and there may well be more on the way as Recital’s next outing is likely to be the Epsom Derby on June 7.
Fallon, nicknamed the ‘assassin’ because of his ice-cool ability to get the job done on the big day, sent the his mount past his front-running stable companion Regent Street passing the two-furlong pole and the pair looked set for an easy success.
This was not to be, however, as Recital did himself no favours at all when hanging quite badly towards the far rail against a strong headwind before eventually beating Memphis Tennessee by a length and a half, with third-placed Regent Street completing a 1-2-3 for the Ballydoyle team.
The winner is a classy if somewhat quirky colt and O’Brien expressed himself happy with Sunday’s display. “When he gets to the front, he’s very lazy and idles quite a bit,” he said. “This horse has an awful lot of class and speed and I was delighted with his performance.”
Explaining his decision to hand Fallon the mount, O’Brien said, “The notion of Kieren riding him today was with an eye towards the Epsom Derby. It is great to be able to avail of the experience of these lads and Kieren was very happy with him.”
Reflecting on how it felt to sit on top of the winner, Fallon said, “I liked him. He’s a lovely colt, a typical Montjeu. He’s an easy, great-moving sort and you could not ride a better mover. He travelled well and actually picked up quicker than I expected.”

Hurricane Fly a champion

Last week’s five-day Punchestown Festival threw up some notable performances, none more so than that of Hurricane Fly, who ran out a very easy winner of Friday’s Grade 1 Rabobank Champion Hurdle.
Just seven weeks after his brilliant display when landing the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, Hurricane Fly put his reputation on the line here against no mean performers in last year’s Cheltenham champion Binocular and the highly regarded Menorah.
At the business end, it mattered little what was put in front of Hurricane Fly as he just brushed the opposition aside.
Ruby Walsh oozed confidence aboard the classy seven-year-old, who simply found another gear when sauntering clear in the closing stages to beat stable companion A Thousand Stars (Katie Walsh) by a ridiculously easy five lengths.
Willie Mullins has done a terrific job with Hurricane Fly, whom he trains for northern owners, Rose Boyd and George Creighton and next year’s Champion Hurdle is now the target for the French-bred, who, quite rightly, has earned comparison with JP McManus’ former three-time Champion winner, Istabraq.
Mullins and Walsh were also seen to good effect when combining to land Thursday’s Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle with wonder mare Quevega.
Fresh from completing her third win in a row in the David Nicholson Mares’ race at the Cheltenham festival, Quevega took on a quality field here, yet this remarkable mare overcame a final-hurdle blunder to beat stable companion Mourad by a length and a quarter.
The meeting kicked off last Tuesday with Big Zeb (5/2F) overturning Cheltenham form when reversing the Festival placings with Sizing Europe in a thrilling renewal of the Grade1 Boylesports.com Champion Chase. Colm Murphy’s runner was given a terrific ride by Barry Geraghty, who galvanised his mount for a three-parts of length success over the well-backed Timmy Murphy-ridden runner-up. Wednesday’s Grade 1 Guinness Gold Cup was a dramatic affair, with dual Gold Cup winner Kauto Star turning in a rare below-par effort as the Ruby Walsh-ridden 11-year-old was pulled out when well out of contention.
Victory here went to Oliver McKiernan’s 20/1 shot, Follow The Plan, who did just that when taking full advantage of the final fence exit of Roberta Goldback to give Kerry-born jockey Tom Doyle a welcome big-race victory.