RACING - Punchestown Report: Beef Or Salmon left it until the end of the season to unleash his best but it was worth the wait as he turned in a brilliant performance to win yesterday's Heineken Gold Cup.At Punchestown
The lingering muscle problems picked up in a fall at Cheltenham last year have plagued the star chaser all season but yesterday's injury-free Beef Or Salmon had everyone wondering what he might have done in last month's Gold Cup if he had got there in top shape.
None more so than Michael Hourigan who endured his stable star getting to within three and a half lengths of Best Mate while knowing that Beef Or Salmon was not at his absolute peak.
"He was certainly not like this at Cheltenham. If he was then like he was today, then who's to say? I know he would have been a lot nearer but would he have won?" he asked.
The question was sufficiently rhetorical to leave few in any doubt about what the trainer suspects might have happened but Hourigan is nothing if not a realist and added: "Ifs and buts don't win races. It's history now and we'll look forward." A quick look back to Beef Or Salmon's latest Grade triumph will do wonders for Hourigan's morale before that, however.
Always travelling well, and most importantly jumping fluently, Timmy Murphy delivered Beef Or Salmon between the last two fences to power past Harbour Pilot and First Gold and win by four lengths.
The sight was enough for Hourigan to start handing the plaudits around for Beef Or Salmon's rehabilitation. His daughter Kay, physio Liz Kent and dressage rider Sue Shortt all got a mention for preparing the horse as did Murphy for pressing the final button. But most of all, Hourigan wanted to talk about the horse himself.
"Dorans Pride was a wonderful horse but this lad is actually better. He has more gears, he jumps better and he is bigger, so he can carry weight. Dorans Pride was the horse of a lifetime but thank God I've found a second one," he said.
"We will look at something similar next season. We might start off in the North (James Nicholson Chase) and take in the Cesarewitch along the way. I think he is well handicapped on the flat. But the way he jumped today, I don't think there is any need to go to England until we have to," he added.
The general bookmaker reaction was to cut Beef Or Salmon to 10 to 1 for next year's Gold Cup and Murphy summed up the feelgood factor by saying: "He has no breeding and he isn't the prettiest horse in the yard but he is a bit of a freak. That's the best feel he's given me since last year."
The success briefly put Hourigan within shouting distance of Noel Meade in the race for the trainers' championship but the latter copper-fastened his hold when Geill Sli won the Paddy Power Champion Bumper.
With Definate Spectacle earlier justifying a gamble in the four-year-old hurdle, Meade described the day's tussle as a "no score draw!" The bumper was definitely a loss for punters, however, as the hot favourite, Blazing Liss, could only get to within a length and a half of Geill Sli after racing intentionally wide throughout.
"She is very small and we didn't want her racing on the rougher ground on the inside," explained Blazing Liss' trainer John Kiely. That helped Geill Sli secure a dream run up the inner which had Meade exclaiming afterwards: "It's hard to believe that was him flying around there as you've never seen a horse more sick with flu than he was last Christmas."
Mark Watts (25) secured his first winner as a professional when guiding the 20 to 1 winner Hurry Bob home in the handicap hurdle while Prince Of Pleasure was a 25 to 1 scorer for Danny Howard in the handicap chase. It was 23-year-old Howard's 51st career winner.
There was one reverse on the day for the Hourigan team as Willie The Shoe secured a narrow success in the opening handicap hurdle for owner Tom Doran.
The winner was moved from Hourigan to Jessica Harrington 11 days ago and the latter said: "Michael Hourigan has done all the work with the horse. I've just kept him ticking over." Doran explained that Willie The Shoe was moved "for a change of scenery".
General Montcalm looked set to win the Champion Hunters Chase only to run down the final fence and unseat his jockey Roger Quinlan. Just Cassandra took advantage to score for Maureen Danagher.
