What A Friend too strong for home team

RACING LEOPARDSTOWN FESTIVAL:THE ODDS on an Irish-trained horse winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup this season look about as tempting as those on a sunny start to 2010 after What A Friend secured Lexus Chase glory at Leopardstown yesterday.

A day after the Grade One highlight had to be postponed due to fog, What A Friend was at the head of a British one-two, beating off Money Trix by half a length with the best of the Irish, Joncol, only third.

What A Friend’s part-owner, Alex Ferguson, couldn’t return to Leopardstown 24 hours later, nor could Barry Geraghty, so it was Sam Thomas who successfully stepped in to the hot-seat.

“Thank goodness for the fog!” smiled the Welsh jockey. “Hopefully this will be a stepping stone for this horse to go on to better things. All he is doing is improving, and with Kauto Star and Denman elsewhere, the Hennessy back here might be a race for him.”

Mention of What A Friend’s illustrious stablemates at the Nicholls yard only emphasised the general vibe that even allowing for Ferguson, this was a mid, rather than absolute top-of-the-table clash.

Bookmaker reaction was to cut What A Friend’s Gold Cup odds to a general 20 to 1 but that didn’t cause a dent in the widespread view that the blue riband in March will again be all about Kauto and Denman.

Cooldine, who started a 100 to 30 favourite yesterday, remains the shortest-priced of the Irish hopefuls for Cheltenham but he was pulled up before the last when well beaten. “Both of my horses (Cooldine and J’y Vole) ran too bad to be true,” said Willie Mullins. “Cooldine coughed after the race, and didn’t scope clean, so I know he is better than that.”

Joncol was prominent throughout and was committed to the lead two fences out by Alain Cawley, only to drift right on the run-in and get picked up in the closing stages by the cross-channel raiders. His trainer Paul Nolan was reluctant to make excuses, however, and said: “We seem to be a bit behind these English horses. We got caught, no ifs and no buts. The Hennessy might be a race for him – if we can stop those horses coming over!”

That seems a forlorn hope based on this evidence and the Nicholls team already look to have February’s Hennessy in their sights. “We have a lot of strength in depth and when this fella is fit and well, he is a good horse. He might be back for the Hennessy,” said Nicholls’ assistant, Harry Fry.

Thomas might have to give way on that day for Ruby Walsh but he is no doubt about What A Friend’s progressive profile.

“Take Denman out of the Hennessy at Newbury and he would have been a very good winner. Some people thought he was ungenuine because he wandered a little that day but that was because he was just trying so hard. All credit to Paul for getting him here in such good shape,” the jockey said.

Nicholls’ dominance in the Gold Cup division however meant William Hill now go 10 to 1 about an Irish horse upsetting the status quo. They didn’t report a rush of business.

Leopardstown sponsor

THE LEOPARDSTOWN authorities announced yesterday that the Irish-owned service group company, MCR, have stepped in at the last moment to sponsor the €100,000 January Handicap Hurdle, formerly the Pierse, on January 10th. The Pierse construction firm dropped out of the sponsorship earlier in the year.

Festival figures

YESTERDAY’S final-day festival crowd at Leopardstown of 7,647 was down 2,700 on the corresponding 2008 figure. It brought the attendance figure for the four days to 51,010, compared with last year’s 59,379. A bookmaker turnover yesterday of €1,71,157 brought the festival total to just over €4.4 million, down from €6.3 million.

A Tote tally of €368,297 contributed to a 2009 total of over €1.5 million, down from €1.9 million.