Hurling for glory as Galway breeder conquers Cheltenham with a little help from JP

JP McManus is Limerick GAA through and through, the hurlers' unprecedented domination fuelled by his patronage. So steeped in the sport is the leading owner that his silks are those of his South Liberties club and McManus's Grade 1 Punchestown Champion Hurdle and Galway Plate winner Grimes was named after the club's midfield colossus who won an All-Ireland medal with Limerick in 1973.

Although the green and gold were the visible colours at Cheltenham, it was the maroon and white of Galway that was pumped through the arteries of one of the McManus winners at the 2024 festival; Corbetts Cross and jockey Derek O'Connor as they careered away with the Maureen Mullins National Hunt Chase.

O'Connor's Galway lineage is firmly established but the seven-year-old Corbetts Cross, trained by Emmet Mullins, grandson of Irish racing's late matriarch, could line out in Croke Park for the Tribesmen, much as his breeder Gerry Murphy did on a couple of occasions for the county's hurlers.