McManus suffers another blow as Venture Capital sustains fatal injury

RACING:JP McManus suffered the loss of a young hurdler in a fall at the final flight yesterday, when Venture Capital sustained a fatal injury in the Grade Two Michael Purcell Novice Hurdle at Thurles.

The six-year-old was staying on strongly to deliver what appeared to be a winning challenge to Bright New Dawn, the favourite, when he dived at the obstacle and suffered a crashing fall. Brian O’Connell, his jockey, was unhurt but Venture Capital suffered a leg injury and was put down shortly afterwards.

The death of Venture Capital came less than four weeks after McManus, his owner, lost the Christmas Hurdle winner Darlan at the last flight in a race at Doncaster.

“We’ll never know,” Dessie Hughes, the trainer of Bright New Dawn, said. “The two seemed to nearly land together but unfortunately poor Philip (Fenton) is having a terrible time at the moment with horses getting killed like that. But it would have been close.”

Bright New Dawn has finished in the frame behind the leading Irish novice hurdlers Jezki and Champagne Fever on his last two starts and received a quote for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. His long-term future is over fences, however, and he is not likely to make the trip to Cheltenham. “He’d like a more galloping track, he’s a very big, long-striding horse but he did it well,” Hughes said.

“We wouldn’t be here today if we were going to Cheltenham, it’s too close. He’s a chaser in the making and we’ll possibly go to Fairyhouse or Punchestown now.”

Venture Capital was one of three horses to suffer a fatal injury during racing at Thurles yesterday. He’s A Delight, the 2 to 1 favourite for the Beginners’ Chase, was put down having sustained an injury after jumping the fourth fence and Missgiloney was killed in a fall two out in the opener.

Danny Mullins, a nephew of Ireland's champion trainer Willie, rode his first winner in his new role as retained jockey to the owner Barry Connell when Mount Benbulben took the boylesports.comChase. The winner is also likely to bypass Cheltenham, where Mullins can expect to have several promising rides for Connell, to contest the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse on March 31st.

“We’ve always known that he’s got a fair engine and it was just a matter of putting it together,” said trainer Gordon Elliott.