RACING:ANDREW LYNCH'S reputation as an expert big-race pilot got another boost at Punchestown yesterday with Rubi Light's dominant victory in the John Durkan Memorial Chase.
It was a third Grade One success in just eight days for Lynch who the previous weekend had scored at the top level with both Sizing Europe and Voler La Vedette.
If the latter’s new found amenability to restraint is a tribute to Lynch’s horsemanship, then Rubi Light took a leaf out of Sizing Europe’s book yesterday with a sound display of jumping that ground down the opposition.
At the line Rubi Light had five lengths in hand of the other 5 to 2 joint-favourite Joncol, leaving his jockey to ponder the significance of the horse’s next start in Leopardstown’s Lexus Chase at Christmas.
Trainer Rob Hennessy believes that crucial three-mile test will determine whether Rubi Light is a legitimate Gold Cup contender or whether another tilt at the shorter Ryanair Chase will be in the pipeline for Cheltenham in March.
In his quiet, undemonstrative way, Lynch gave Hennessy some encouragement about the ex-French star’s stamina. “He gives the impression he will get three miles. And if he does he could be a seriously good horse,” said the 26-year-old Ashbourne based rider. “Last year he was only a novice really and performed really well at Cheltenham. He loves it soft but he goes on better ground too which might help him with the Gold Cup trip.”
That was music to Hennessy’s ears as the Ratoath-based trainer tries to fill the hole left in his yard by the retirement of the former Champion Hurdle winner Sublimity. His big-race jockey, Philip Carberry, is now based in France but travelled to Punchestown to watch the horse he recommended Hennessy buy gain the first Grade One of his career. “Philip’s a good man to have on your side, and so is Andrew,” Hennessy said.
“The Lexus will tell us if he is a Gold Cup horse. He’s only six and going the right way. Andrew said he’ll come on from this. It would be lovely if he was a Gold Cup horse but he’s definitely a horse to fill Sublimity’s boots,” he added.
Bookmaker reaction to yesterday’s race was to make Rubi Light as short as 8 to 1 for the Ryanair, in which he was third last year, and to keep him among the 25 to 1 Gold Cup outsiders. Joncol’s trainer Paul Nolan reported: “The winner was better than us on the day but we will still head to the Lexus.”
JP McManus’s top class chaser Kempes had to be put down after falling at the fifth last fence. The Willie Mullins-trained star, winner of this year’s Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown, also won a Grade One novice chase at last year’s Punchestown festival. “We bought Kempes during the 2009-10 season and he did well for us. He was a good one and it’s sad to lose him,” said McManus’s racing manager, Frank Berry.
Paul Carberry was out of luck on Joncol but had earlier teamed up with a highly-rated JP McManus-owned winner in the opening maiden hurdle on board Please Talk. “This is a gorgeous horse. I’ve loved him from the first time I saw him in John Halley’s yard. Thank God I got him,” said trainer Noel Meade.
“Whatever he does over hurdles is a bonus because chasing will be his game. He does like that ground (heavy) but we’ll just paddle along with him for a while.”
Jim Culloty is another trainer taking a long-term view after Lord Windermere upset the favourite Dylan Ross in the Listed hurdle. “He’s still very green. I’ve always thought he has lots of ability. He’s a big chaser really and has got an engine. But he has also been a bit of a slow learner,” he said. “Leopardstown at Christmas might be too soon so we might wait until February and see if we can get some better ground before deciding what we do,” Culloty added.
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