Jubilee Year, right, eases past Battlemount at Tipperary© Photo Healy Racing
Brian O’Connell literally never moved a muscle as Jubilee Year cruised up at the end of the two and a half mile handicap hurdle to glide past Battlemount and win by a length and a half.
The handicap debutant could afford a sketchy jump at the last in this performance that would have been hard to predict from his previous outings.
John Walsh’s five-year-old came in at 14/1. His best results had been two fourth places in bumpers last year.
“I didn’t think he would go on the ground. He ran alright on it before, but they told me it was untraceable today,” John Walsh said of his Tipperary winner.
“He was unlucky in a couple of bumpers, but he’s well bred and he’ll make a nice chaser some day.”
Battlemount (10/1) led into the straight, but was soon hard at work. It was only a matter of time before he was picked off by the winner.
The 11/4 favourite Ballyreesode never landed a blow in coming in third a further 11 lengths away while Black Cache who was prominent throughout, kept on for fourth at 10/1.
John Kierans and Tommy Ward jointly own the son of Zagreb.
The winner continued John Walsh’s good recent form. The handler has had three winners in the last two weeks before today.
There were 10 horses pulled up in this 16-runner contest as the heavy ground took its toll.
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
