Punchestown review: Reports, reaction and free video replays
By Sporting Life
15:58 · SUN November 20, 2022
A review of the rest of the action from Punchestown on Sunday as Delta Work landed short odds by the narrowest of margins.
Delta pulls out all the stops to repel Banjo
Delta Work justified odds-on favouritism in the Pigsback.com Risk Of Thunder Chase but not without a fright, the nine-year-old clinging on by a short-head to deny a rallying Singing Banjo (40/1).
The Gordon Elliott-trained nine-year-old was formerly a top-class stayer but, after losing his way slightly early last season, immediately took a shine to action over the banks when winning Cheltenham's Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Festival in March.
He famously denied ownermate and dual Grand National hero Tiger Roll a fairytale swansong on that occasion but had to work hard under Jack Kennedy to make a winning start to the new campaign at odds of 4/6 (favourite) on Sunday.
Delta Work still had a trio of horses in front of him turning for home and heading for the last flight. Kennedy got a good tune out of the Grade One winner on the run to the last and although he wasn't perfect at it, he had the momentum to hit the front. Singing Banjo battled bravely on the inside rail, to his credit, but Delta Work held on to win.
Third went to Foxy Jacks at 14/1, with 80/1 outsider John Adams back in fourth.
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Paddy Power left the winner unchanged as their 15/8 favourite to repeat his Cheltenham win next spring.
“Jack (Kennedy) said it took him a while to get going, he said he was very sticky early until he got down over the double down the bottom,” said Elliott.
“It’s a bit trickier here than it is in Cheltenham. It’s hard to place a horse like him now so we said we’d see how he took to this. It’s job done.
“The runner-up is good around here and those horses are real specialists around here. He kind of pulled up from the last home, he pricked his ears and didn’t do much.
“He used to wear cheekpieces over fences and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were back on him again at some stage.
“We try to do different things with him at home, we take him away to a lot of different places to school him. He’s very good around Cheltenham, but he still has a bit to learn over the banks here.
“Jack was happy, so if he’s happy I’m happy.”
Looking to future plans, Elliott said: “He’ll probably have one run between now and Cheltenham all being well.
“There is a race in January in Cheltenham for him or he could maybe run in the Boyne Hurdle. We probably wouldn’t be here, only it was called off there (Cheltenham cross-country chase in November) last time because of the ground.”
Townend cool as a cucumber
Willie Mullins has Cheltenham in mind for Shewearsitwell, who could go straight to the Festival after her win under Paul Townend in the Pertemps Network Group Handicap Hurdle.
“I don’t think the mare helped Paul at all in the first mile, she got herself out of the race,” said Mullins of his 8/1 scorer.
“Paul said he tried to get her back interested again and get her on an even keel. He took a chance coming through the inside and it worked, but he had to take that chance to get through.
“She was a great help to him from the second-last hurdle, over the last, and she just really put down her head in the last 50 yards. I didn’t think with 100 yards to run she’d get back up, but she was very brave when push came to shove.
“She stays well and I’d imagine now that she’s qualified we’ll have to have the final as our main aim for the season.
“We’ll have a look at what her likely weight would be in it. It’s very seldom I have a runner in that race and I don’t feel any need to run her again before it.”
Significant potential for Large
Noel Meade and Bryan Cooper teamed up to good effect with Farceur Du Large (11/1) in the Ryans Cleaning Handicap Chase.
“Bryan is riding well and he’s been very lucky for me over the years. He’s a very good rider and it’s great to have him on your side,” said Meade.
“We bought him as a two-year-old in France and he’s taken a while. He’s a bit lazy as you can see in his races.
“He was going well in Galway and he made a very bad mistake at the third-last on very heavy ground and it knocked the bottom out of him. He still ran a very good race that day and I quietly fancied him each-way today.
“I would think he’ll probably run in the Paddy Power at Christmas, I’d imagine that will be his next port of call.”
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