Christie wins Jack Tyner Memorial Chase Winged Leader’s trainer David Christie gained a poignant success in Cork’s Jack Tyner Memorial Hunters Chase, as once high-class hurdler/chaser Journey With Me (13/2) returned to winning ways, under jockey David Doyle. A Grade 2-winner and rated 162 at his peak for previous trainer Henry De Bromhead, the ten-year-old had reverted to point-to-pointing for new handler Christie this season. Today’s renewal was a smart 12-runner contest and with recent Cheltenham also-ran Solitary Man (9/4) fading to finish fourth, Journey With Me out-gunned previous Supreme Novices Hurdle-fourth Asian Master to score by a neck. Christie, whose Winged Leader holds the all-time point-to-point win-record of 37, revealed “I’ve been trying to win this Jack Tyner-race for a long time as I knew Jack when he was riding, so it means a lot to win the race. Jack never rode for me but I often walked the point-to-point tracks in the north with him and his father Robert. They are a lovely family and he was a lovely lad.” He added “Journey With Me has been disappointing but my horses were sick from December to the end of January, and he was one of the sickest. He had run under a cloud since and I don’t think the heavy ground suited either. “Often with these horses who were once high-class, they would have gone through a tough time to be high-class and it takes a pile to get them back. I’m just delighted to get him back and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that today’s race was over 2m4f. “His Oldtown form in February had been rubbished but it has actually worked out well. “He was bought to race in Aintree’s Foxhunters but we couldn’t get him there and while we will probably run in Punchestown now, I’d say three-miles isn’t really his distance. Hopefully he’ll go to Aintree next year.”
