Jacob’s flying visit to Punchestown pays dividends
Daryl Jacob’s visit to Punchestown on Sunday was rewarded with a taking victory aboard Nusret in the John Lynch Carpets 3-Y-O Hurdle.
A Curragh maiden winner who was sixth in the Melrose at York in the summer, the Joseph O’Brien-trained three-year-old is now a good looking jumps prospect for owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.
He quickened up nicely in the closing stages to readily account for Morning Soldier by six lengths, and his rider feels the 5-2 winner has a bright future.
“He’s always shown a nice attitude to schooling, I’ve schooled him a couple of times at Joseph’s.
“When he won at the Curragh I really liked him and thought it was a really good performance. I thought he could be quite nice over hurdles.
“I’m sure they’ll have a nice race in mind for him now, there are a couple of good races over here at Christmas time.
“It was a nice performance, there were some nice horses in that race today. He’s done it very nicely, travelled around great and jumped great.”
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.
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.”