THE RETURN of a star jumper like Oscars Well at Down Royal this afternoon is normally a sure sign of National Hunt racing’s renewed stranglehold on public interest but Pat Smullen can guarantee at Dundalk tonight that the intriguing scrap for 2011’s flat jockey’s championship goes right down to Sunday’s final wire.
Smullen has just two winners (79-77) to make up on his great rival Johnny Murtagh before the turf flat campaign winds up at Leopardstown this weekend and he can edge tonight’s action with a double.
Both men have full books at Dundalk, a track at which Murtagh scored a double last week, before Smullen revived his hopes of a seventh title with a treble last Sunday.
“To be honest, I thought I was in big trouble after Johnny had his double but I had an amazing day at Leopardstown and with a bit of luck, I’ll ride another few winners from what is left,” Smullen said yesterday.
“I wouldn’t be codding myself, I know I have a big task ahead of me, but I’ll be giving it maximum effort and hopefully I’ll get the breaks I need,” he added.
Neither jockey is being deflected from the title effort by a trip to Kentucky for the Breeders Cup and Murtagh is determined to hang on to his slender lead.
“Pat had an amazing day at Leopardstown and the momentum is certainly on his side now. I am happy with the rides I have for the last couple of days and while I’d be worried that Pat and Dermot Weld usually do so well at Leopardstown, to have that two winner lead is a big advantage,” he said yesterday.
Despite having a number of Aga Khan-owned hopes to count on tonight, Murtagh’s best chance could come on Stones Peak in the six furlong handicap but it would be no surprise to see Smullen cut the championship gap to just one with a single meeting to go.
Joanna Morgan, the trainer who first lit Smullen’s interest in race-riding, supplies Six Silver Lane in the 10-and-a-half furlong handicap and the return to this trip could help the Clonmel winner who did well on his first attempt on the all-weather here over a mile.
An Cat Dubh also looks to have a good chance for Smullen in the mile juvenile maiden. Eddie Lynam thinks a lot of Seventh Avenue who beat An Cat Dubh over seven furlongs on the synthetic here.
Down Royal begins its JNWine Champion Chase fixture today with some Grade Two and Three action that principally appears to revolve around the reappearance of last season’s leading novice Oscars Well.
Only a last-flight mistake looked to prevent Jessica Harrington’s star from picking up a Cheltenham success last March and he faces just four in the WKD Hurdle although the quartet does include The Real Article. “We’re very happy with him, but The Real Article is the one to beat because he’s fit,” Harrington said yesterday.
* Ruby Walsh failed in his appeal against the five-day ban he picked up at Aintree last month after appearing at British Horseracing Authority headquarters in London yesterday. Walsh was ruled by the local stewards to have used his whip nine times when winning on the Paul Nicholls-trained Edgardo Sol, once more than allowed under the new rules.
Walsh had been adamant one of his ‘strikes’ down the neck was used as a corrective measure on approach to a fence, but the BHA disciplinary panel upheld the decision of the Aintree officials and the five-day ban stands.
