RACING:PUNCHESTOWN'S GROUND-STAFF worked feverishly through the night to produce a track fit enough for Quevega to effortlessly complete a scintillating hat-trick of Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle victories yesterday evening.
Pitched as a battle of the mares with Voler La Vedette, it wound up more victory parade than struggle as the unquestioned Queen of Irish jump racing swept clear of her big rival in the closing stages.
Coming on the back of a four-in-a-row at Cheltenham, the superstar mare, who rarely appears but has still become a National Hunt fixture, returned to a rapturous reception, and some vocal demands that she step off a treadmill that has seen her win eight of her 10 starts in the last three years.
Calls for Quevega to take on the outstanding Big Buck’s at Cheltenham next year were met with a blunt “why?” by Ruby Walsh, an understandable reaction from a jockey who happens to ride both horses. “Cheltenham is the place everyone wants to win and why would you not line up for a race where you would be an odds-on favourite,” Walsh wondered. “I’d say she’s doing pretty well and has been really well placed.”
Trainer Willie Mullins remained unmoved too but quipped: “I have no problem taking on Big Buck’s – and if he gets into the mares hurdle next year then no problem!” He added: “We’re going where we’re going and I’d like to keep it simple. I can’t see us skipping here to go to Aintree – and Ruby would be disgusted!”
The fascinating element comes from the ease with which Quevega beat Voler La Vodette who had pushed Big Buck’s all the way up the hill at Cheltenham just a month previously. “Yeah, but how much had he in the tank?” Mullins queried.
In sporting terms, though, and despite it being 11 months away, with any amount of potential impediments in the way, the idea of Big Buck’s v Quevega is an intriguing one, certainly a more mouth-watering prospect than another tilt at the mares hurdle for which one firm already rates Quevega an unbackable 1 to 3 favourite.
The efforts of the Punchestown authorities in pumping surface water off the course overnight and railing off fresh ground paid off with conditions that rode very well considering the amount of rainfall in the previous 36 hours.
Whatever the circumstances, Willie Mullins remains the man to beat at the festival and his son Patrick rode an outstanding race on the topweight Uncle Junior in the four-mile La Touche Cup banks race that wound up with just a short head in it at the line.
Lydon House was the unfortunate runner-up but victory was a just reward for a horse carrying 12st 7lb on very heavy going.
“It was an extraordinary performance to carry 12-7 on ground he doesn’t like. But he loves that trip. I wrote him off when he had just three behind him but these banks bring out the best in him,” Mullins Snr said. “And I did think it was a fantastic ride.”
Davy Russell is set to be crowned champion jockey for the first time tomorrow and he reached 103 winners for the season on Tofino Bay who was too good for Turban and the gambled-on English favourite, The Tracey Shuffle, in the conditions hurdle.
The first reserve for the three-mile handicap hurdle Whatever Jacksays made the most of his opportunity with a spread-eagling victory under Robbie Colgan while Buckers Bridge maintained his unbeaten record with an impressive bumper success.
