Byrne's victory in Purse makes up for Cup loss
COURSING: Irish Cup
Wednesday March 03 2010
BRENDAN Matthews domination of the coursing scene was further enhanced at Limerick race-course last Sunday, when kennel star and Champion Stakes winner Bexhill Brian captured the J P McManus Irish Cup.
Owned by Conor Sheehan and John Barrett from Glin, Bexhill Brian came with a late surge to deny the Patsy Byrne owned Kerry Call in a pulsating final. In fact Kerry Call looked an all out winner as he powered away from slips to quickly open a commanding length advantage. However, Bexhill stuck to the task well and having switched sides he began to eat into the pups lead and in the final strides pulled out a half length advantage which he held to the turn for a famous victory. Kerry Call lost nothing in defeat, and were it not for a hard hunt in the semi-final the concluding result may well have been reversed.
High and Mighty,the property of John Flynn from Tarbert lost out to Kerry Call at the quarter final stage, and his four runs up the Powerstown stretch may well have told at the end of the day. The Corn Na Feile winner will be expected to have a fruitful campaign next season when he enters allage company.
Patsy Byrne gained compensation when Kerry Calling ,a litter brother to the Irish Cup runner-up took the Irish Purse. He defeated the Dan Brassil trained Gallys Bridge at the semi-final stage,and was a hot 1/3 favourite going to slips for the final. He duly obliged making all in a short slip getting the flag by two lenghts. Pa Fitzgearld was the winning trainer.
Lisloose Eoin was a warm favourite to pick up the plate following his second round exit in the Irish cup at the hands of eventual winner Bexhill Brian.
Indeed so impressive was the Johnny Carroll trained pup,he set the the fastest clock for three rounds up the Greenmount stretch. He was as short as 1/8 going to slips for the final against the Sir Mark Prescott owned Moot Point. However Moot Point showed a clean pair of heals from slips, quickly opening up a two length lead. The odds on favourite looked a tired dog and appeared to go unsighted for much of the course resulting in Moot Point running out a comfortable four length winner for the legendary horse trainer from Newmarket. The winning trainer was Michael O'Donavan from Tipperary. Select All-Age Bitch
Stake Another result for the bookmakers in this one as the impeccably bred Kalanova (Bexhill Eoin/ Qualityandgold) upset the odds by defeating 1/2 shot Quality and Dash in the deciding buckle. Kalanova led from slips and thats how the course continued,running out a comfortable four length winner in a long slip. Kalanova is owned and trained by Larry Jones from Co. Monaghan.
