Klairon Davis took a successful first step towards recapturing his Champion Chase crown when beating his two rivals in yesterday's Dunstown Wood Chase at Fairyhouse. As a getting-to-know-you exercise with new pilot Richard Dunwoody, it was an eminently satisfactory exercise but those who took the 4 to 11 odds about the 1996 two-mile champion could have started to fidget when the small field touched down over the second last.
Beakstown, who had kept Klairon Davis company in the lead for much of the race, quickly faded but the outsider of the three, Fifthsevenchannels, ranged alongside Klairon Davis appearing to be going very easily.
Dunwoody was the first to start niggling but Klairon Davis proved the gulf in class by quickening the better on the run-in and ultimately won by a very cosy 11 lengths.
"I'm happy enough with that," declared Dunwoody, who said the ground was slightly quicker than ideal for the horse who may yet fill the only major gap in Dunwoody's big-race CV, the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
Trainer Arthur Moore expressed similar satisfaction with the reappearance but he is definitely dissatisfied with the lack of suitable opportunities for quality two-mile chasers in Ireland.
"It's a terrible situation that there is nothing here for him after the Punchestown Chase next month until he goes to Cheltenham. It's a terrible waste to have the horse standing in his stable over Christmas when there is a £100,000 three-mile handicap chase, a £50,000 threemile conditions chase but no two, or even two and a half, mile chase at Leopardstown. I'm sure horses would come from England if there was such a race," Moore said.
In the meantime, Moore is considering a Grade Three conditions chase at Tipperary on November 20th, followed by a possible trip to Sandown for the Tingle Creek Chase on December 6th. "If the ground is too fast at Sandown he won't run and we would then look at the Punchestown Chase at Fairyhouse the following day," Moore added. After yesterday's contest, Dunwoody and Beakstown's rider Conor O'Dwyer complained to the stewards about how the dolling of the track after the last ditch had forced the three runners to gallop too closely for comfort to the starting stalls waiting for the following seven-furlong race.
"There was only three of us but with say 10 runners, it could have been a different story. As it was, we still had to turn pretty sharply to avoid the stalls," said O'Dwyer.
It wasn't O'Dwyer's day as he looked to have the winning of the Rathmore Hurdle when Tidjani overhauled the favourite, Misty Moments, only for Misty Moments to fight back and short head him. Misty Moments was a welcome winner for jockey Garrett Cotter, who was on his first day back after a lengthy suspension nicely coincided with him recovering from a broken collar bone.
O'Dwyer also had to settle for second in the maiden hurdle when Lucky Dante was also headed close home by the second favourite, Jacky Flynn, who gave Joe Casey, 20, his seventh winner.
Le Ciel will now be aimed at the Leopardstown November Handicap following a facile four-length win in the Summerhill Handicap, but the two-year-old Wish Me Luck will carry a two out of two record into the winter after beating the eternal bridesmaid Festival Song by a neck in the EBF Race.
Michael Kinane will ride Saratoga Springs instead of the other Michael Tabor-owned colt, Kilimanjaro, in tomorrow's Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.
Explaining his decision, Kinane said yesterday: "Saratoga Springs won well at the Curragh last Saturday and has more experience. Kilimanjaro has a lot of potential and is better than he showed in the Royal Lodge, so I just hope I've made the right decision."
John Reid takes the ride on Kilimanjaro, who is favourite for the Group One race.
Tim Sprake took the riding honours at Brighton yesterday with a 254 to 1 double on Balanita and Cabcharge Blue. Balanita pulled off a 33 to 1 shock in the Aldrington Nursery and Sprake sealed his double courtesy of 13 to 2 shot Cabcharge Blue in the Race Hill Selling Handicap.
