SIXMILEBRIDGE trainer Denis Quinn enjoyed a welcome change of luck as his Captain Coke landed a five-furlong handicap on the all-weather field at Dundalk on Saturday afternoon.
Despite having finished third in a six-furlong contest at the County Louth track eight days earlier, Captain Coke went off a 12/1 shot (paid €21.70 win on the tote) but proved that price was well wide of the mark when storming to victory.
Ben Curtis sent the three-year-old by Fath to the front at hallway and the pair fought off all challengers when crossing the line half-a-length in front of the Mick Halford-trained Sampers.
This victory was all the more meritorious given that Captain Coke was competing from 11Ib out of the handicap even though Curtis’ five-pound claim negated that to some extent.
A delighted Quinn, who trains the winner for his New York-based brother Peter, explained, “We’ve always thought a good bit of this horse. We offered him for sale at the Breeze-Up Sales at Dundalk but he didn’t sell and we decided to race him. I knew he was in great form going into Saturday’s race and also knew that he handled the surface. It is great to get a winner and, depending on how the handicapper reacts, I’d expect he can win again.”
Ennis owner John Madden also had good reason to rejoice after his Final Question landed a gamble in good style at Cork on Easter Sunday.
A well-backed winner of his beginners’ chase at Clonmel back in February, Final Question was again the subject of solid support. When backed from 6/1 to 5/2 favourite, he landed the concluding O2 Store Mallow Handicap Chase under a good ride from Donal MacAuley.
Disputing the lead from three-out, Final Question, who is trained in Kanturk, County Cork by Michael Winters, found most at the end of this stamina-sapping two-and-a-half-mile contest when edging clear on the run-in to beat second-placed Island Wood by three lengths.
“He is a tough, game horse and showed all the right qualities to win,” said Winters. “He is entered in the Grade 2 Hugh McMahon Memorial Novice Chase at Limerick on Sunday and we’ll see how that shapes up before making a final decision.”
Looking further ahead, Winters has a race at Punchestown later this month pencilled-in for the son of Welsh Lion. “There is a three-mile, six-furlong race for him at the Punchestown Festival that might suit too as long as the ground stays soft. He is a very easy horse to train and never runs a bad race. Long-term, something like the Welsh National at Chepstow would be ideal for him.”

National joy for Motherway’s Cracker

Bluesea Cracker pulled-off big-race success for her Cloyne, County Cork trainer James Motherway when springing a 25/1 shock under Limerick jockey Andrew McNamara in the Powers Whiskey Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday.
This most competitive of contests was run on terribly soft ground but Bluesea Cracker, a mare by Buster King, was always travelling well and became something of a fairytale success when giving her 35-year-old East Cork handler the best day of his racing life with his first ever runner in the race.
Sensibly, the most of this 30-runner field travelled easily throughout the early part of the race and there was still up to half a dozen horses in contention turning into the home straight.
Last December’s Paddy Power Chase winner Oscar Time appeared to be travelling really well for Robbie Power on the wide outside but Andrew McNamara was holding a double handful on Bluesea Cracker who enjoyed having the lightweight of 10-3 on her back.
A fine leap at the last indicated that Bluesea Cracker had plenty left in the tank and so it proved as the eight-year-old ran on best in the closing stages to beat runner-up Oscar Time by four-and-a-half-lengths. Oliver McKiernan’s novice Whatuthink gave Paddy Mangan a great spin to fill third, while Cheltenham hero, A New Story, again ran his usual game race in fourth under Adrian Heskin with Michael Hourigan’s consistent 12-year-old bagging €8,500 for his Ennis owners’ The Storey’s Over Syndicate.
Elsewhere on Monday’s card, the day belonged to champion jockey Ruby Walsh who rode four winners.
The Kildare rider kicked off when steering Willie Mullins’ Cousin Vinny to victory in the opening two-mile conditions hurdle. Something of a failure when sent over fences, Cousin Vinny bounced back to his best over the smaller obstacles when coming with a perfectly timed challenge to beat Head Of The Posse by two-and-a-half-lengths. The winner will now head to the Punchestown Festival where he will be hard to beat.
It was pretty much the same story with Mullins’ Mourad in the Grade 3 Ladbrokes.com Hurdle as Walsh pounced at the final flight when sending the 5/2 shot clear to beat Noel Meade’s 11/8 favourite Donnas Palm by a dozen lengths.
Walsh was equally brilliant aboard Tony Martin’s Psycho in the Arkle Bar Novice Chase. Not the easiest of rides, Psycho went off a well-backed 5/4 favourite and never gave his supporters an ounce of trouble with a round of fencing that put his rivals to the sword when coming home seven lengths ahead of Native Clan.
Walsh completed his near 90/1 four-timer aboard Paul Nolan’s Shúil Arís in the two-and-a-half-mile Mares’ chase.
Shúil Arís was left in the lead when Carlas Dream unseated John Cullen three out and Walsh guided her home from there to beat the Paul Townend-ridden Tally Em Up by eight lengths.
Philip Fenton, who has yet to make a final decision on which race his stable star Dunguib will contest at Punchestown, was on the mark in the Gigginstown House Stud point-to-point bumper where Last Instalment annihilated the opposition.
Backed from 6/1 in to 7/4 favourite, Last Instalment, who was purchased by Gigginstown boss by Michael O’Leary after he won a point-to-point at Lemonfield last month, pulled well clear over the final half mile under Corky Carroll to beat 10/1 shot Whatever Jacksays by 27 lengths.
All eyes this weekend will be on Aintree where Saturday’s John Smith’s Grand National is the feature. This four-and-a-half-mile marathon really captures the imagination of jump racing fans all over the world and Quin breeder John O’Neill will be hoping the horse he bred, King John’s Castle, can feature.
A four-length second to Comply Or Die in the 2008 running of this event, King John’s Castle, who is trained by Arthur Moore for leading owner JP McManus, is currently on the 33/1 mark and will have the valuable assistance of Paul Carberry in the saddle.