REST OF PUNCHESTOWN REPORT:IT MIGHT have come a month later than ideal but Captain Cee Bee finally claimed a Grade One success over fences when emerging best in an incident-packed Ryanir Chase at Punchestown yesterday.
Tony McCoy’s mount was a major fancy for the Arkle at Cheltenham but burst a blood vessel in the race and trailed home eighth behind Sizing Europe.
Not surprisingly that was on the mind of his trainer Eddie Harty going into last evening, and obviously for punters too, who made the English challenger Riverside Theatre favourite.
However, he took a horrible fall at the fifth last where Fosters Cross and Roberto Goldback also exited, leaving Barry Geraghty lucky to emerge with just a dead leg. Psycho had fallen a fence earlier and at the business end Captain Cee Bee got the better of Let Yourself Go and Sports Line to win by four lengths.
“I would have hated to have ended the season without a Grade One. He is top class when on song and it was just unfortunate what happened at Cheltenham,” Harty said. “The Champion Chase will be his target next season.”
Captain Cee Bee is a general 14 to 1 shot for the two-mile crown with bookmakers.
Enda Bolger confirmed his dominance of the La Touche Cup over the banks when L’Ami headed a one-two for the Co Limerick trainer, providing him with a 12th success in the unique event over the last 13 years.
L’Ami got the better of his stable companion Freneys Well after a sustained duel up the straight that not surprisingly had their trainer in relatively relaxed form.
“I didn’t mind which one won but I am delighted for L’Ami because he has been a bridesmaid for a while,” Bolger said.
“These races are getting more popular all the time, with nicer horses running in them, and long may it continue,” he added. “This isn’t rocket science. If you have a good horse you can come out on top and L’Ami finished fourth in a Gold Cup. So the cream came to the top.”
Barry Geraghty had earlier dominated the opening hurdle on Our Gar who continued a good season for Prunella Dobbs, who trains just eight horses at her base near Wicklow town.
Katie Walsh sprang a 25 to 1 shock on the horse trained by her father Ted, Battlefront, in the two mile handicap chase while Prince Rudi was a 16 to 1 skinner in the handicap hurdle under Robbie Molloy.
Bishopsfurze provided Willie Mullins with his seventh success of the week so far after a narrow bumper victory over Go All The Way.
Day three figures:
THE DAY Three crowd at the Punchestown festival was 15,512, down nearly seven hundred on last year's corresponding figure, writes Brian O'Connor.
For the third day running, Tote turnover was up sharply with pool betting from France and Britain boosting it to a tally of €822,853 compared to €619,269 last year. A total of €143,000 came from the French Pari-Mutuel.
Bookmaker turnover yesterday was €1,569,826 compared to 2009’s tally of just short of two million euro.
