O’Shea rules out Punchestown trip for Barton Snow Trainer Joe O’Shea has ruled out an end-of-season trip to Punchestown with his brilliant Cheltenham and Aintree hunter chase hero Barton Snow. The nine-year-old held on by a neck to see off perennial Festival bridesmaid Its On The Line to seal victory at Prestbury Park last month – and was even more impressive when sealing the Merseyside equivalent over the Grand National fences by seven lengths. O’Shea was emotional after the victory in Liverpool as he hinted at a possible trip across the Irish Sea for the Punchestown Champion Hunter Chase, but those plans have now been shelved. “I told everyone that would listen that if he jumps round, he’d win,” O’Shea said of Barton Snow’s Aintree success. “We’d knew he’d improve, I’m the only man I know who would use a Cheltenham Festival hunter chase to get him prepared for Aintree! It was always the plan. “It meant a lot that one. To set out a plan and for it come off, it’s amazing. “I’m open to Punchestown, but the owners aren’t. We had a sit down and chatted about it, and they thought for the prize-money on offer and by the time everyone gets their cut, it just wouldn’t be worth it. “If we went there and won everyone will say that we should have won, and if we got beat they’d all say it was one run too many, so we’ve decided to pull the plug. “It’s a shame because you should see the shape of his coat – he looks amazing.” O’Shea is looking forward to seeing Barton Snow defend both of his major titles next spring, adding: “He will have a break now until September, then he’ll go for point-to-point at the end of November or mid-December – just the same as what he did this season. “I always go to a point-to-point first and then we will pick one of the hunter chases – there’s loads in January – and then Cheltenham and Aintree again.” The Nantwich handler believes he has another potential star in his ranks in Boley Bob, who will make his rules debut at Kelso in the Church House Investments Buccleuch Cup on Monday. “He will win on Monday, he’ll show how good he is,” said O’Shea. “He will win there. Two of the Barton Snow syndicate own him and I phoned them up after the first time I worked him, I said ‘take him away, he’s too good for pointing’. “The plan all year was to go to Cheltenham for the intermediate point-to-point hunters’ chase at Cheltenham’s April meeting, but then we got an email saying it was moving to Warwick. “We moved the plan a little bit, this Buccleuch Cup is a big race up north and and it’s for horses who have never won a hunters’ chase of any kind, so it fits him absolutely perfect. “He worked on Thursday and he’s the only horse who can canter with Barton Snow and if Barton Snow was in this, what price would he be? “After Kelso we are going to go for a restricted point-to-point hunters’ chase at Stratford. “I must have said something on TV (about this horse) because the amount of people trying to buy him is unbelievable. I had one person offer a load of money just on my say so – the amount they offered was unbelievable.”
