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Magic back on form for O'Sullivan

Call It Magic and Ruby Walsh are cheered homeCall It Magic and Ruby Walsh are cheered home
© Photo Healy Racing

Call It Magic bounced back to form when making all for a convincing success in the Eamon Sheridan Groundworks Chase at Ballinrobe.

Ruby Walsh, recording a double on the card, bounced out in front in the two-mile seven-furlong event and has his rivals on the stretch before the second last.

The Ross O'Sullivan-trained gelding was kept up to his work on the run-in to record an 11-length success over Net D'Ecosse

The 4/1 winner had been beaten a long way on his return to action over hurdles at Cork last month and had been pulled up when last seen in action over fences at Punchestown in April.

“He’s a horse with issues — muscles, back trouble and everything like that going," said O'Sullivan.

“There’s been a lot of work done on him over the summer.

“He got into a rhythm today — he loved it - a pair of blinkers on him, Ruby on him — and from the word go you could tell after three fences that today would be good a day for him.

“He ran over hurdles recently and he just didn’t enjoy himself.

“If you could just keep him right — he won his point-to-point by twenty five lengths. He won his bumper then by ten and we thought he was the real deal. Things just didn’t work out for him.

“If you can keep him right it clicks and it clicked today.

“All the big handicap chases are now back on the agenda if we can just keep him right.”

(Quotes by Eamonn Murphy)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.