Mantles Prince sees off rivals in splendid style

Never can it have been more appropriate to have a figure in a race title, for the aftermath of Mantles Prince's victory in Saturday's 14th Ladbroke Hurdle seemed to revolve around figures.

A total of 14 runners made it the smallest Ladbroke field in 22 years but it made it no easier for punters to revolve the puzzle as the £65,300 winning pot went to a horse racing from 12lb out of the handicap.

However, logic has never been too prominent a factor in racing and a persistent morning whisper that Pat Hughes fancied Mantles Prince strongly saw the horse start a 12 to 1 shot. The shrewdies have rarely been more shrewd.

In a race with no apparent hard-luck stories, most of the fancied runners took up the chase of the English fancy Geos from three out, but although the favourite Afarad, She's Our Mare and Knife Edge queued to challenge, the eye kept returning to Mantles Prince on the inside.

"When they jumped the fourth last and Fran Berry's backside was still high in the air I thought we were all right," a vindicated and exultant Hughes said afterwards.

Berry's Flat race style stayed intact to the last, and when he asked Mantles Prince to quicken past Geos, the response was a gratifying six-length winning burst.

For a horse who broke out briefly in a skin allergy after winning at Fairyhouse on Monday and had endured a long layoff through injury it was a sparkling display and one that the handicapper, Noel O'Brien, was not unduly surprised by.

"He was actually just 9lb out after being put up 3lb for his second to Spokesman at Christmas and anyone who saw that would have recognised him as an improving horse. It's a testament to Pat Hughes for bringing back a horse who had been so badly broken down," said O'Brien.

In the circumstances, also, it was appropriate that the eight-ember winning syndicate is headed by Ray McSharry Jnr, the son of the former Minister for Finance and EU Commissioner. He seemed to have taken advantage of the mathematical permutations.

"I thought he had a good each-way chance," said Kildare-based McSharry who works in the meat industry. "We bought Mantles Prince in the UK two years ago and Pat Hughes has done a wonderful job with him. My father is not involved in the horse but he follows keenly."

Hughes nominated the Imperial Cup and the County Hurdle as possible future targets for Mantles Prince but circumstances will rarely be as much to his liking in the future.

"Driving up her today I went through how many of the field had handicap form and many of them didn't. I'm a great believer in having that handicap experience," Hughes said.

Barry Geraghty, on the runner-up Geos, was thrilled with his horse's jumping, but Charlie Swan admitted to disappointment with Afarad, who faded in the straight to sixth. "He was travelling like a winner three out but just didn't pick up. Maybe it was the ground," Swan reported.

In the supporting feature, the Pierse Leopardstown Chase, Buck Rogers emphasised yet again what a pity it was that he missed his prime years through injury, when fighting off Fiddlers Tune to win by two and a half lengths and set up a tilt at the Hennessy Gold Cup.

"I'd love to have seen him race when he was six or seven. He would have been something special," said trainer Victor Bowens, who will also enter Buck Rogers in the Aintree Grand National. "If he stays sound, he'll stay winning, but it's just great to have him back."

David Casey's first racecourse union with To Your Honour resulted in a gutsy success in the Fitzpatrick Novice Chase which banished the memory of the horse's previous refusal at Navan. Casey proceeded to notch a double on 12 to 1 Choice Of Kings in the Casinos Hurdle Qualifier.

Jackpot punters were sickened, however, by Your Cheatin Heart, having her first race since mid-August, who took the Morris Hurdle at odds of 50 to 1 for Kilmallock trainer Paul O'Malley. A pool of £29,428 will be carried over to the AIG meeting on Sunday week.