ZATT - The Magazine

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A Christmas Cracker of Racing!

Turkey and ham and some cracking racing was served up over the festive period and the Bord na Móna Novices’ Chase was the first high quality race to get the ball rolling on four great days of action, both at Leopardstown and across the Irish Sea.

Sizing Europe won this Grade 1 event but not without a slice of luck as Captain Cee Bee was travelling ominously well when he tipped up at the last. Osana was a beaten horse coming around the last bend but benefited from Captain Cee Bee’s fall to pick up the runner up prize. Sizing Europe didn’t move as fluently as he usually does and with Captain Cee Bee failing to finish, this encounter between the two left us asking more questions than it answered. Zaarito, second last time out behind Captain Cee Bee, also won over the four day festival, by 8 lengths and never having been asked a question by his jockey, Denis O Regan.

Hurricane Fly is out with injury after sustaining damage to a suspensory ligament and may not make it back in time for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. In his absence, Solwhit was a rather warm order for the December Festival Hurdle which he won convincingly, taking care of Sublimity, and reversing the order from when he found himself third behind that particular rival in the rather untruly run, Fighting Fifth Hurdle. Voler la Vedette’s connections’ choice not to run her in the December Festival Hurdle looked wise and she took her place in the two and a half mile listed Mares Hurdle which she won a very warm odds on favourite, although she still looks at her best over a shorter trip.

Solwhit en route to victory in the December Festival Hurdle ( Dara MacDónaill)

The Lexus Chase proved disappointing for the Irish steeplechasers as Joncol was our best in third place. He’s still only six years old though so should be improving with each run. Cooldine pulled up with a cough but connections are confident it is only a minor hiccup on the road to Cheltenham. Notre Pere finished a far back fourth place and the first and second prize went to the English raiders with Paul Nicholls once again landing one of the season’s valuable prizes and it seems no one holds a stronger hand in the Cheltenham Gold Cup than the Ditcheat handler. The Alex Ferguson owned steeplechaser, What a Friend, landed the prize and it’s a poor reflection on the Irish Gold Cup pretenders as the winner was beaten by Denman; Gold Cup second favourite when in receipt of 22 pounds in his previous start.

Tranquil Sea took his place in the Paddy Power Dial a Bet Chase over 17 furlongs and finished a creditable second place , 3 and a half lengths behind Golden Silver. It was a solid run over a trip short of his best and Tranquil Sea remains on course for the two and a half mile Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

Across the pond, Kauto Star once again proved himself possibly the best steeplechaser of his generation by landing his fourth consecutive King George VI Chase. It was his most convincing King George yet and the official winning margin was a distance to the former Hennessy Gold Cup winning, Madison du Berlais. The star is now drawing comparisons with Arkle, and while the two time Gold Cup winner is clearly a great talent, and one to be savoured, a comparison with the legendary Arkle maybe slightly premature. Arkle and Kauto Star are completely different animals as Arkle was thrown into every good race going whereas Kauto will be saved for three races a season. There is no question however that he’s one of the best around at the moment and I am already looking forward to his fifth King George VI.

Big Buck’s rounded off a great 2009 for the Paul Nicholls’ team by winning the Long Walk hurdle at Newbury and his place at the top of the World Hurdle market is firmly deserved and he is now best priced 6/4 on for the stayers’ hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. He saw off his biggest market rivals by 3 and a half lengths in energy sapping ground at Newbury and he always looks like he’s holding a bit in the locker. Karabak put in a good performance in second place with Diamond Harry in third, and the performances of these two only further enhance the anticipation to the seasonal reappearance of Mikael D'haguenet who beat them at Cheltenham, last spring, and he is expected to be seen in a beginners’ chase some time in the New Year.


Big Buck's winning last season's World Hurdle from Punchestowns ( Tom Jenkins)

Go Native, the Noel Meade trained hurdler picked up his second leg of the WBX Hurdling Triple Crown and was a successful Irish raider of the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, edging out Starluck and Binocular. The six year old brown gelding hit the front before the last and looked like he would kick on to land the prize in great fashion. He idled on the tacky ground however, and his stride shortened but as Starluck and Binocular rallied behind he managed to hold on by a short head. Go Native is a live contender for the Champion Hurdle and with the potential absence of Hurricane Fly, it’s great to see we have two of the quality of Go Native and Solwhit to compete for the two mile hurdling showcase.

It was a cracking Christmas of racing action and we will now have to wait until the Cheltenham Festival for a repeat of four such high quality days of racing.

2009 and Irish Horse Racing

If anyone ever doubted Ireland’s credentials as a powerhouse in global horse racing they only need look back at 2009 and the achievements that we Irish have amassed over the last twelve months of racing. Be it in National Hunt or on the flat the Irish have succeeded in the biggest races in the world.

At this year’s Cheltenham Festival, there were nine Irish winners from the 26 races. Ruby Walsh, a native of Kildare was champion jockey having won a record seven races. Three of his winners were aboard Willie Mullins trained horses and Willie will be hoping to add to this tally next March with his talented Closutton based team.

Sea the Stars winning the Epsom Derby (The Daily Telegraph)

You couldn’t write about Irish achievements abroad without mentioning AP McCoy, who this February reached a mammoth three thousand winners and was crowned Champion Jockey in Britain for the fourteenth consecutive year! There wasn’t a better ride to be seen all year than when Wichita Lineman came to the front right at the post in the William Hill Trophy at the Festival. It looked like the 5-1 favourite was in trouble four fences from home when lagging behind, under much duress from McCoy but he managed to get rattling up the hill and took the race by a neck from the tiring Maljimar. This race symbolised everything that’s great about the legendary AP, he didn’t for one second relent on the horse from start to finish of the three mile marathon event.

It’s clear that the Irish had a successful year in the National Hunt but it was on the flat that every single element of the strength of the Irish horse racing industry was showcased by one outstanding specimen, Sea the Stars.

Sea the Stars was bred at the National Stud, a bay colt by Cape Cross out of Urban Sea. In April 2008, he came under the care of John Oxx at Currabeg. This season Sea the Stars won six Group 1 races inside six months. It was the style of his wins, seemingly without any great effort or pressure from his jockey, Mick Kinane that won over fans. Even in the Prix de l’Arc, Europe’s biggest race, he was so talented that even when it looked like things might be going against him he was able to run out a cosy 2 length winner . This was no racehorse, this was a phenomenon.

Sea the Stars wasn’t the only success story for the Irish this year. The Ballydoyle team were also quite prevalent this season and this year they helped Yeats to win his fourth successive Ascot Gold Cup. No mean feat to keep an eight year old entire sound and racing at the highest level for seven seasons. In the Epsom Derby, six of the first seven home were Irish trained and the sole intruder being trained by a Limerick man now based in England! An outstanding year by all accounts and one we can hopefully build on going into 2010!

Looking forward to Christmas!!

We are all excited about Christmas but none more so than National Hunt fans with some great racing promised over the holidays at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival.

The Bord na Móna Novice chase has the looks of an Arkle Trial. The horses at the head of the Arkle market are competing, with Sizing Europe (left) taking on Captain Cee Bee and Osana. Sizing Europe will look to add to his three wins over fences and secure his place at the top of the Arkle market. Captain Cee Bee came back to the racecourse after over 600 days on the sidelines to win his race against Zaarito and An Cathaoir Mor, and it looks like he hasn’t lost any of his talent from his time off. Osana has done nothing wrong over fences either but I will be expecting the prize to go to Sizing Europe. It seems that there’s a great race ahead for us in the Bord na Móna Novice Chase on the first day of the Leopardstown Christmas Festival.

The bookmakers can’t even decide on a favourite for the Lexus Chase and there isn’t much to choose between Joncol, Notre Pere and Tranquil Sea at the head of the market. Notre Pere disappointed in the Betfair Chase and also when he fell in the JNWine Chase. He’s a horse that takes a while to get going in a season and if conditions suit he may be able to improve from his previous two runs to play a major part here. It won’t be easy however, as Joncol and Tranquil Sea are talented horses. Joncol won the John Durkan Chase on very heavy ground at Punchestown and he will have no problem with the three mile trip. He’s a giant of a horse and at 6 years of age there will be only improvement to come from the Paul Nolan trained gelding. Tranquil Sea beat Joncol before he won the Paddy Power Gold Cup but I’m not certain that he is yet ready for the step up in trip to 3 miles. It’s not yet obvious who will be favourite in this race but it’s certain that it will be one of the highlights of the Leopardstown Festival.

Solwhit and Hurricane Fly will lock horns for the second time this season, and Hurricane Fly’s connections will want to level the score and win the December Festival Hurdle. This is yet another highly competitive race of the festival and neither Muirhead nor Voler la Vedette will be too far from the action. Hurricane Fly ran a very aggressive race in Punchestown against Solwhit. He blew out at the last and a change in tactics might see Hurricane Fly edge this one. This is a little taster of all the action that will be happening in Leopardstown and we can all look forward to four days of great racing from the 26^th to the 29^th of December .