As the 16-1 shot Amlah sailed past the post to win yesterday's Compaq Galway Plate, nobody quite knew how to react.
For the first time in the plate's 129-year history, a horse trained in Britain had won Ireland's greatest summer jumping contest. That Amlah's owner, Salvo Giannini, speaks with a Welsh accent richer than Barry John's only added to the confusion.
However, the presence of Naas-born Brendan Powell on Amlah's back was comfortably familiar. Powell (37), won the Aintree Grand National 10 years ago on Rhyme N Reason, which no doubt helped him cope when a wayward loose horse almost took Amlah out of the race on the turn into the straight.
The reception accorded to Amlah was less raucous than that accorded to some recent winners, but nobody doubted he was a deserving winner. "I'm going to have to stop calling Brendan `the pensioner' because he's ridden a brilliant race," said an emotional Mr Giannini, a Swansea engineer. The 9-2 favourite, Lucky Town, racing in the colours of J.P. McManus's wife, Noreen, finished 13 lengths behind Amlah in second and Corket was third.
There was immediate concern for the jockey, Adrian Maguire, who took a crashing fall off Gales Cavalier at the second fence. Maguire still lay on the ground as the field avoided the flagged-off fence on the second circuit of the race. He will miss today's big race, the Guinness Galway Hurdle. A bumper crowd of approximately 25,000 included the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, and a plethora of Cabinet Ministers. The changeable weather caught everyone out, however, as heavy rain hit Ballybrit immediately after the big race was run.
For some of the politicians, it could be only a taste of things to come. A total of 10 TDs and Senators - including Jim McDaid, Dessie O'Malley and Noel Davern - propose to buy a horse and put it in training with Noel Meade. Already prospective names for the beast are being coined, with Grand Alliance and Four Years More currently heading the list.
However, success at Galway also remains within the reach of more ordinary folk, as an earlier success for Storm Gem proved. The winner of the Altavista Handicap Hurdle is owned by 22 prison officers who helped themselves to some of the 92 starting price.
