Bryan Cooper and Paul Nolan were among the winners at the first meeting of the week at Fairyhouse on Wednesday where HMS Seahorse scored a battling success in the two-mile maiden hurdle. Sporting the colours of the Sonja Buckley and Anne Coffey Partnership, the 8/11 favourite saw off the challenge of the Gavin Cromwell-trained Global Export by a length and a quarter when Nolan commenting, “He has a lovely attitude for a fella that is still a colt. Hopefully he’ll be an ideal weight in the Boodles Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and he’ll have a chance in that. He might improve on a bit better ground being by Galileo. Bryan said he’s learning all the time and he seems to be progressing.”
Tralee trainer Tom Cooper looks to have a fine recruit in the shape of Icare D’Aubrelle which made a winning debut in the four-year-old bumper at Naas on Sunday. With Derek O'Connor in the saddle, the Ciaran Mooney-owned 5/2 chance made virtually every yard of the running and impressed as he easily got the better of the Gordon Elliott-trained 5/4 favourite Trust Me Nate by eight and a half-lengths. Cooper said, “He’s very special and he has the pedigree to go with it as he’s a half-brother to French Aseel. He handles that soft ground so well and he did it the hard way there. There was loads left in the tank. The race at Limerick is there. He has a great constitution for work, he has a great body and you can throw anything at him and it doesn’t matter to him. He’s not a horse that needs time, he’s just a racehorse and I’m lucky to have him.”
Jack Kennedy got on the scoresheet for the week at Punchestown on Sunday where Death Duty scored a cosy success in the three and a half-mile handicap chase. A 6/1 chance for trainer Gordon Elliott, the 11-year-old was always up with the pace and led before the final fence as he beat Champagne Platinum by three lengths for owners Gigginstown House Stud. Elliott said, “He did it well and Jack said he got into a lovely rhythm. He ran very well at Christmas but made a mistake at the first or second down the back in the Thyestes Chase at Gowran and just never got into the race. Jack gave him a beautiful ride today and I’m glad it worked out. He won two Grade One races and it’s great to see him putting his head down there and galloping to the line.”
