Leopardstown report:The Listener picked his way through desperately deep ground at Leopardstown yesterday to record a surprise success in the Lexus Chase, but his circuitous route to victory was a walk in the park compared to the trek jockey Daryl Jacob has taken to score a first victory in Ireland.
It's only three years since Jacob, now 23, left Dessie Hughes's yard to try his luck in Britain, and after expertly guiding The Listener to a comprehensive defeat of both Beef Or Salmon and War Of Attrition yesterday, the Enniscorthy native was keen to remember a much missed friend.
Kieren Kelly was the one who encouraged Jacob to make the move across the Irish Sea, but soon after that the Cheltenham festival-winning rider was tragically killed in a fall at Kilbeggan.
"Today is as much for Kieren as anyone else," said Jacob. "He taught me the basics of race riding, and how to ride horses, and then set me up to go to England. Every second day I still look at videos of Kieren riding to see how I should be doing things."
Unlike Tony McCoy, who managed only fourth on L'Ami yesterday, and many other Irish riders, Jacob didn't make an immediate impact in Britain; he rode in west country point-to-points before teaming up with The Listener's trainer, Robert Alner.
But Alner, a Gold Cup winner with Cool Dawn in 1998, has helped propel the young Irishman to second in this season's conditional table and also provided him with a big-race chance on his home turf. Jacob didn't waste it.
Jumping errors crept into The Listener's form as a novice last season but he was foot perfect yesterday, cruising alongside L'Ami before decisively going for home at the second last.
Neither War Of Attrition nor Beef Or Salmon had it in them to go with the English raider and there was an eight-length margin at the line that had some bookmakers cutting the grey horse to as low as 10 to 1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Significantly, however, there didn't appear to be a stampede for such odds, and with the going very unlikely to be anything as testing at the festival in March, there wasn't too much doom and gloom in the home camps either.
"The Listener is obviously a fair beast but that's the deepest my lad has been on in a very long time," said War Of Attrition's jockey Conor O'Dwyer. "I was delighted with the way he ran."
The same horse's owner, Michael O'Leary, grinned: "Cheltenham is always a different proposition. The winner looks a very good horse but I'd be happy with that."
Michael Hourigan's hope that Beef Or Salmon would record a 10th Grade One victory in his favourite race didn't come off but a return for the Hennessy in February is still on the cards.
"I was pleased with the way my horse jumped and I have no excuse," Hourigan said. "The best horse on the day won and there's a new kid on the block. Being by Roselier he was always going to love that ground."
The Hennessy would also look an obvious target for The Listener, whose trainer didn't gloss over his horse's dislike for quick conditions.
"On good ground he would be okay but anything faster, like good to firm, would be a waste of time," said Alner. "Today has gone better than I could have hoped. Both horse and jockey were perfection. The Listener can really jump out of that ground and Daryl gave him a fantastic ride."
It was hardly surprising that much of the post-race attention focused on Jacob, who might be well behind Tom O'Brien in the conditional table in Britain but whose Grade One strike yesterday could be worth any number of victories around the gaffs.
Not that he was showing any signs of forgetting the bread-and-butter stuff.
"It's been a great year for me and this caps it," Jacob smiled. "But I'm going to have to do nine-11 at Taunton tomorrow. That'll bring me back to reality."
After yesterday's dramatic success, a first English success in the Lexus since Best Mate in 2003, it might take longer than Taunton for the thrill to wear off.
