THE absence off a coughing Klairon Davis robbed the final Fairyhouse session of its prime attraction yesterday, but gave students of the formbook a rare opportunity of backing a winner "with a stone in hand" at odds of 100 to 30.
Klairon Davis had so dominated the £20,000 Oliver Freaney and Dan Moore Handicap Chase that the five remaining runners were compressed on the minimum 10-11 mark.
The racecard showed, though, that if Noel O'Brien had been able, to re-handicap them again that he would have asked Idiots Venture to give away upwards of 15lb all round.
Richard Dunwoody had been in such good form this week that his mount, Cable Beach, was made favourite. This usual bold front runner did set the pace but never got away from the field and from the third last fence on, it was clear that Idiots Venture was close enough to the leader if he was good enough.
And so it panned out, with him skipping on after the last fence and without Charlie Swan having to give him an unduly hard race he won by one and a half lengths. Aidan O'Brien has long believed that Idiot's Venture was Cheltenham Gold Cup material, but he has been a nightmare to train with lots of problems.
This was to be the first leg of a double for trainer and rider, with Moscow Express upsetting the well backed Liver Bird in the O'Dea crop Flex Nutrition Festival Novice Hurdle. The margin was only half a length but Moscow Express did well to recover from a disastrous blunder at the last when he dragged his hind legs through the top of the flight.
Half an hour later Swan took a nasty tumble when making the running on An Maineach and he stood himself down from his last two mounts of the day but reported afterwards that he had escaped with no more than a stiff shoulder and would be ready to fulfil his Grand National engagement on Wylde Hide.
Arthur Moore has been very much out of luck this Easter at a meeting which drew a record aggregate attendance of almost 43,000 but his fortunes took a turn for the better with a double in two chases where there were more fallers than finishers.
Manhattan Castle was produced late by Francis Woods to beat Common Policy in the Aer Rianta sponsorship, while Ryhane beat the only other finisher, Mystical Air, by a distance in the Pat Donnelly and Sons Handicap.
Brian Nolan, who in his riding days for Jim Bolger partnered Fassadanin to provide a 33 to 1 shock in the Huzzar Handicap Hurdle at Fairyhouse, now trains a three horse stable at Killeshin but the star, Windy Bee, landed some nice bets when giving a lot of weight away to Afarka in the Tattersalls EBF Mares Hurdle Championship final.
The runner up, after trying to make all the running, rallied well on the flat but Windy Bee hung on by a head and then survived a subsequent stewards inquiry.
The day had started with Dermot Weld providing a winning prep race for his Irish Lincolnshire candidate Silvian Bliss. Conor O'Dwyer stalked the pace making Iridal in a massive field in which only the first two ever showed in the lead. The speed on the flat of Silvian Bliss proved decisive and he went away to win by nine lengths.
Weld said afterwards that Michael Kinane, who rides in Dubai this afternoon would be back at the Curragh for the opening there on Sunday and that he had a ride for him in every race.
Looking further afield, Weld is pondering taking Humbel out to California on April 20th for the Grade One San Juan Capistrano, a race worth half a million dollars and run over one mile six furlongs, a distance that the majority of American trainers look upon as being excessive.
