Killultagh Storm won the £75,000 Powers Handicap Hurdle in a thrilling finish with Brigade Charge at Fairyhouse yesterday but although the first four home raced from out of the handicap, it was the opposite end of the weights scale that attracted pre-race attention.
The Pat Hughes-trained top-weight Mantles Prince, the stable companion of Sharpaten and Akasian who ran in the race, was declared a non-runner due to a colic. That left Derrymoyle on 11-4 and 10 of the 21 runners running from out of the handicap.
The Turf Club rules for handicap hurdles valued at over £20,000 is that if a horse is rated more than 10 lb. clear of the next weighted horse and is taken out for whatever reason then the weights can rise on the day. Mantles Prince was rated 10 lb. higher than Derrymoyle. The stewards imposed the standard five-day ban from racing for Mantle's Prince and imposed a mandatory £25 fine on Hughes.
After Killultagh Storm's success, the winning trainer Willie Mullins was clearly displeased with the sequence of events and called for the weights to automatically rise in any race if the declared top-weight has to miss the race.
"The situation has to be looked at and it has to be changed," said Mullins who is also the chairman of the Trainers Association. A Turf Club spokesman later said the rule is currently being reviewed.
In addition to being 3 lb. out of the handicap, Killultagh Storm's rider David Casey also put up 1 lb. overweight but the Lambourn-based rider looked worth every ounce as he put Killultagh Storm's nose in front on the line.
The pace-setting Shiny Bay appeared set to continue Ted Walsh's incredible winning run when leading over the last but Brigade Charge rallied and ultimately was the one to run the winner to a head.
"He'll have one or two more runs over hurdles but he'll make a helluva two-mile chaser. That's what I'm really looking forward to," said Mullins who quipped: "I'll have to get on to David about putting a pound over!"
The well-backed favourite Spokesman never showed with a chance and finished midfield and the stewards were in action afterwards, handing Brigade Charge's rider Fran Berry a two-day whip ban. It rules Berry out of the last two days of Punchestown.
Heavy overnight rain turned ground that was officially described as "yielding" for the first two races to "soft" for the Powers Gold Cup and the conditions contributed to just two of the five runners finishing with the favourite Native Upmanship enjoying a virtual lap of honour.
His market rival Montana Glen was pulled up before the eighth fence, Rathbawn Prince lost his rider seven out and Slaney Native refused at the last, firing his rider over the fence instead!
That just left the English raider Sunrise Special to chase home the winner who Arthur Moore will now aim at the Bradstock Chase next Tuesday at Punchestown or in the Heineken Gold Cup the following day.
"We don't want to over race him and he's had a very profitable season anyway so the Bradstock might be the race," said Moore while the approving winning rider Conor O'Dwyer reported: "He was very positive at his fences today."
Winning Jenny paid almost 43 to 1 on the Tote but that didn't stop Francis Flood's mare from showing the most finishing pace in the £50,000 Goffs Land Rover Bumper to reverse previous form with Bob Justice with the English raider Ready To Rumble third.
It was a 10th career win for the mare's 22-year-old rider Cathal Swords and trainer Flood complimented: "He's a good lad with a good brain. They went a good gallop and he waited for them to come back. The plan now is Punchestown."
Berkeley Run successfully reappeared after a long lay-off due to sore shins when just getting the better of Bay Magic and Young Whack in the opener while Good Glow and John Daniel Moore sprang a 20 to 1 surprise in the hunters chase.
