Punchestown – 27th April 2012 – Star Best For Racing Coverage Novice Hurdle

After a week or so of deciding whether to run and a few days of wondering whether we would be able to after torrential rain, finally Oscara Dara’s last race of the season came around. At entry, two miles around Punchestown had looked like it might be a bit sharp, but one benefit of the rain and heavy ground was that it would bring stamina into play and only 13 runners declared from the original 38 entries. The real questions for Oscara supporters were would he handle the ground and would he be sufficiently recovered from his run at Aintree just 14 days earlier. The former appeared to be less of a concern as he had run on soft turf at Ascot and soft sand at Southwell, but the latter was a complete unknown. He seemed well, but there was no way to tell what would happen once he was under the pressure of racing.

The uncertainty of whether he would run meant a depleted ownership team of Phil & Sarah Boyle were representing BG Racing on course and it was an early start with a 4am departure from Beare Green to get to Southampton for the 6.45am flight on Flybe to Dublin. Having arrived in Dublin and picked up a hire car, we found ourselves with about 10 hours until racetime and no firm plans. We decided to head down in the general direction of the course and stopped off at a country hotel in Leixlip for some breakfast. I am sure that they opened the kitchens especially for us given that there was no one else around, but that seems pretty typical Irish hospitality.

Next stop was a stately home called Castletown when we joined a guided tour that was being given to a busload of Italian visitors. Their translator had to repeat everything in Italian which meant that the tour took longer than usual (good when you have time to kill) and we managed to pick up a few words of Italian (added bonus)!

Towards the end of the tour, the rain started falling again. We knew Punchestown had passed an 8am inspection, but surely it would not take much more water to call it off. It was looking increasingly worrying outside and it was hard to discuss Oscara Dara’s chances with Peter Ashdown who was on the phone whilst sheltering from the rain and wondering if he would get the chance to run at all. Not sure how positive I was, but I learned later that Peter’s builder had placed a large bet on Oscara Dara, so I must have been making a decent case for success!

Next stop was Alan’s and whilst it rained all the way there, we arrived to find sunshine and a nice day. This just added to the confusion as we were not sure whether the track was getting the rain or the sunshine. A nervous hour or so followed as Alan and Phil paced back and forth nervously discussing every possible way that the race could play out and Sarah sat quietly reading a book!

Nicky called from the course to report that conditions were raceable and to arrange to meet once we had arrived at the track and after a long wait it was time to head to the races.

On arrival and having sorted badges etc we headed for the Owners and Trainers Bar where we met up with Nicky. He promptly led us up to the executive box level where we were shown one of the hospitality suites. Our host was Michael O’Hagen the Chief Executive of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing who are responsible for promoting Irish racing. Michael could not have been more welcoming and invited us to come and go as we pleased all afternoon. The other guests were a bit of a racing who is who with Toby Balding, Alan King, Noel Chance and many others all either in situ or popping in and out! Nicky needed to go and meet some other people, but we were joined by his pupil assistant trainer Patrick Harty (son of Irish trainer Edward). Patrick was over with the horses for the festival. He has been with Nicky for 18 months and seems to be both enjoying and benefiting from the experience. He seems a really professional and friendly young guy and I am sure we will hear more of him in the coming years. We watched the early races from the balcony of the box the highlight being Hurricane Fly returning to form with a win in the 2 mile hurdle.

We spent quite some time talking to Peter Fahey an Irish trainer who trains the useful mare Shop DJ who had finished 2nd (albeit a bit fortunate) behind Sir Des Champs earlier in the week. Peter was good company and I will certainly be keeping an eye on his progress in the future.

Before any time seemed to have passed, it was time for our big race of the day and we headed down to the pre parade ring for saddling up. We were joined over there by our good friend Gerry Hannity who had travelled from Downpatrick for the day with his son Damien. With the other BG Racing partners unable to attend, it was great to have a friendly face on hand to try to keep us calm! We were soon across to the paddock and being introduced to Barry Geraghty and Tony McCoy who was riding Nicky’s other runner Malt Master. Barry asked a couple of questions about Oscara Dara’s previous races and Phil (hopefully with a sense of authority) confirmed that he thought that Oscara Dara would be fine on the ground having encountered very heavy conditions at Southwell and soft ground again at Ascot. Barry confirmed he would ride him to assume he would have no problems and see where Oscara could take him. We wished him well and headed up to the stands with Gerry and Damien where Gerry introduced us to Darren Owen the BBC commentator who has commentated on the Grand National in recent years. We were surprised to find Oscara was being well supported and hoped that the punters were right.

The race was soon underway and after completely going through the first hurdle, Barry seemed to be happy with Oscara Dara and started to move up as they began the swing for home. Turning in it looked like Nicky’s two runners were going best and things were getting really exciting. It certainly is a strange feeling to hear shouts of encouragement for “your” horse going up all around you. The leader briefly looked a danger, but almost immediately came under pressure as Oscara Dara took up the running with Malt Master trying to peg him back. Down to the last with P Boyle screaming his head off in the stands and Barry and OD pinged it before another acceleration made absolutely sure that victory was ours.

The next few minutes were a whirlwind, hugs all round, Sarah almost falling down the stairs as her legs had gone wobbly with all the excitement and Alan appearing from nowhere and pushing us into the horse walk to lead in the horse. Shouts and cheers all around as we hit the winners enclosure and Barry dismounted.

Barry reported that Oscara Dara had run a great race and had made his job very easy after “completely missing the first”. After that he had jumped beautifully and stayed really well. Nicky was on hand for photos and was giving interviews and Frank Berry the racing manager for JP McManus owner of Malt Master came over to congratulate us. This was such a nice gesture and very classy given that their horse had just been beaten. We really appreciated that he took the time to come over.

In no time, we were being whisked off to the presentation. Des Gibson from the Irish Daily Star who generously sponsored the race was presenting the trophies and it was all cameras and handshakes for the next few minutes.

After the presentations were done and Nicky had rushed off to head to the airport, we were shown to the winners room to watch a recording of the race and to have a sandwich. Alan, Hettie and Nancy came over with us to watch the recording and then we all went back up to the box to let the car park quieten down. Up there we spent a good while talking to James Nicholson chairman of Down Royal racecourse who was really friendly and a very interesting guy to talk to.

Eventually it seemed like it was time to make a move and after goodbyes to all of our friends old and new we headed to the car park to find our car and to spend an hour or so of the drive home calling all the partners to try to share the experience with as many of them as we could!