Leopardstown report:A chance meeting at the 2006 Easter festival at Fairyhouse was the initial spark that powered Barker and Timmy Murphy to a resounding Pierse Hurdle victory at Leopardstown yesterday.
James Barrett, an ex-assistant to the Lambourn-based Charlie Mann, had been planning to strike out on his own as a trainer in Britain only to run into owner Eamonn Duignan for the first time at that Irish Grand National fixture.
Duignan's offer to install Barrett at his 100-acre training yard outside Navan instead provoked a return to Ireland for the Tipperary-born, first-season trainer whose initial winner, Dabluffer at Wexford last May, has proved to be spectacularly badly named.
Three further victories from just over 20 runners have included a number of well-backed winners that had bookmakers running scared last week over Barker's chance in the first big race of 2008. Their suspicions proved to be spot on as Timmy Murphy brought the 10 to 1 shot with a sustained run to beat the 33 to 1 outsider Brave Right by two and a half lengths with Silver Jaro in third.
"A fifth winner, and in the Pierse, is not too bad!" grinned Barrett who could now aim Barker at Cheltenham's County Hurdle. "It's an awesome feeling and great for Eamonn. I just feel sorry for Martin Mooney who would have ridden him except for being injured. But Timmy gave him a great ride. That's the advantage of having a top man on board."
The 5 to 1 favourite Do The Trick was moving into a prominent position when taking a crashing fall at the third last. His jockey, Paddy Flood, briefly lost consciousness and picked up an automatic 21-day riding ban as a result.
Another jockey in the wars yesterday was David Casey who also briefly lost consciousness after a spectacular last fence fall from Perce Rock in the Grade Two Paddy Fitzpatrick Novice Chase. Casey was stood down for 21 days too and was taken to hospital with a suspected shoulder injury.
The fall had no impact on the result, however, as Glencove Marina made it two from two over fences with a display that confirmed Willie Mullins's high opinion of the horse.
"He's the horse with the most potential we've had in the yard for some time. He could be anything," said Mullins who will aim the winner at the PJ Moriarty Chase here next month.
Bookmaker reaction varied with Cashmans making Glencove Marina a 6 to 1 favourite for the Arkle at Cheltenham while Hills go 12 to 1 about him for both the Arkle and the SunAlliance.
"He has the speed to go back to two miles but he's probably a stayer on pedigree. It's a nice problem to have, and we also have Scotsirish for the Arkle," Mullins added.
Scotsirish had earlier beaten the odds-on Wins Now in the Beginners Chase to provoke general 16 to 1 Arkle quotes of his own and provide the middle leg of a 43 to 1 treble on the day for Ruby Walsh.
Psycho kicked off the three-timer in the handicap hurdle and only King Johns Castle's defeat by Mister Top Notch in the Leopardstown Chase prevented Walsh continuing a remarkable winning streak that had seen the champion jockey win on 10 of his previous 13 rides.
Mister Top Notch's topweight win concluded a memorable weekend for his jockey, Conor O'Dwyer, who had saddled his first winner as a trainer with Hangover at Punchestown on Saturday.
"The riding's easier!" quipped the veteran jockey after Mister Top Notch earned a ticket to next month's Hennessy Gold Cup and a probable clash with Denman.
"We'll find out how good he is there, but it's great that he's had his day here," said trainer Davy Fitzgerald.
"He loves this place which is a big plus. But I was very worried about the ground today."
The ground was officially heavy after almost 15mms of overnight rain but the card went ahead as scheduled which was good news for the big-race sponsor Ged Pierse whose Just Friends made all under Denis Cullen to beat Astute Approach in the bumper. Bookmaker reaction was to make the winner a general 20 to 1 shot for the Cheltenham bumper in March.
n Yesterday's Leopardstown crowd of 7,517 was down almost 2,000 on last year's corresponding figure and Tote turnover of €474,088 was down almost €60,000 on 2007. However, the bookmaker turnover of €1,764,059 was up from last year's tally of €1,655,270.
