Wacky races: mad Punchestown moments involving Al Boum Photo, Labaik and more

Great racing and championship performances are par for the course at the Punchestown festival, but controversy, wacky incidents and stellar moments that were special for other reasons have been in abundance too. Here are ten of the best, or worst, depending on your viewpoint.

1998 – Miss Diskin runs riot while her opponents refuse

The ground was testing for the first day of the 1998 festival, and with heavy rain falling through the day, it got even worse. By the time we got to the fifth race, the 3m1f Rohcon Construction Handicap Chase, a stamina test was guaranteed.

The 23-runner race was won by the front-running British raider Miss Diskin, who under Brendan Powell for trainer Bob Buckler ploughed through the mud and ran her rivals ragged. What emerged behind her though as she passed the post was extraordinary. Most of the runners had pulled up, and anything still in pursuit was out on its feet and ended up refusing at the last.

The runners mill around before the last fence before deciding to jump it in the Rohcon Construction Handicap Chase at Punchestown in 1998

While the winner was in the unsaddling enclosure, a number of her rivals were milling around on the approach to the final fence, riders wondering should they jump it, and after a brief conflab, four of them decided to try. They all got over with the Arthur Moore-trained Daddy Dancer under Tommy Treacy winning the private battle for second.

2000 – the collapsing drains

Punchestown staged an all-Flat fixture on October 9, 2000, and at the finish of the opening two-year-old maiden a number of horses lost their balance near the line. A delegation of officials, riders and trainers went out to take a look, and abandoned the meeting as some mole drains had collapsed, making the track unsafe.

Some time later it emerged the work required to fix the issue could well put the 2001 festival in doubt. Remedial work was attempted and an inside track with the finishing straight in the middle of the racecourse was used for some later meetings, including for the Grade 1 John Durkan Chase in December. Eventually time ran out, and the festival was moved to Fairyhouse and Leopardstown.

2001 – red jacket almost wiped out

For reasons already outlined, the 2001 festival was run at Fairyhouse for the first three days and Leopardstown on the final day, and on the opening day one man not looking where he was going almost caused a huge incident.

The Fighting Blindness Novice Chase attracted just four runners and long odds-on favourite Sackville, under David Casey, was about to record a routine success, his sixth straight win of the season. The final fence was omitted and, as the winner was about to bypass it, a red-jacketed member of the groundstaff unwittingly raced from the landing side of the bypassed fence and clambered under the rail almost into the path of Sackville.

The red-jacketed groundsman (left) is about to dash out into the path of Sackville at the 2001 festival

Luckily, the horse was just about upsides him and managed to administer a glancing blow at worst, which made the unfortunate gentleman turn on his heels with great alacrity. He still may not know how lucky he was. A split second earlier would have made it an extremely nasty incident.

2004 – the banks level the playing field

Not only are the banks races an essential part of the festival, they are a great leveller too, but in no contest was that aspect demonstrated more than in the 2004 running of the Kildare Hunt Club Chase.

More than a touch of class was added to the field by favourite Takagi, winner of the Grade 3 Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse two starts previously. This was his first run over banks, he didn't particularly take to them and was off the bridle some way out. Perhaps his quality told to some extent as he stayed on to finish second to 33-1 shot Andrewjames.

But have a second look at the figures. Takagi had a chase rating of 145, Andrewjames had a rating of 77! Takagi was giving him 11lb, but was meeting him on 57lb better than handicap terms. That's what the banks can do.

2012 – water, water everywhere

Punchestown and the unpredictable spring weather are friend and foe in equal measure, but in 2012 they were at war. The rain leading into the meeting and the appalling weather on day one ensured the chases on day two were called off, with the hurdles and bumper on that day run in swamp-like conditions.

Splish splash at the 2012 Punchestown festivalCredit: Patrick McCann

It was hard to find anybody on the Wednesday evening that gave racing on Thursday any chance of going ahead, but a Herculean all-night effort by groundstaff saw a staggering amount of water removed from the track, so much so that there was hardly a trace of the violent splish-splashing that occurred the previous day.

The chase track was still unraceable, but the cross-country track was, and we were treated to five races we did not expect to see.

2013 – the crowds welcome Sprinter

A record crowd descended on Punchestown's opening day of the 2013 festival for one horse, the great Sprinter Sacre.

The sporting decision of Nicky Henderson to let him come to Punchestown, having won at Cheltenham and Aintree was a risky one, and in hindsight it might have set him back a year or two. He wasn't at his best in landing the Grade 1 BoyleSports.com Champion Chase from former champion Sizing Europe, but he did not have to be. What happened next was what made it memorable.

Punchestown: where Sprinter Sacre won in 2013 is set to begin a €5 million development of a Flat trackCredit: Patrick McCann

The cheers of the capacity crowd on Sprinter Sacre's return to the winner's enclosure was on a par with Dawn Run winning The Match in 1986, and winning rider Barry Geraghty said afterwards he had not experienced anything like it since he was at Fairyhouse, aged ten, when Desert Orchid won the Irish Grand National in 1990. It was a special day.

2013 – easy for Quevega as Solwhit is withdrawn

Some bemoan the perceived lack of ambition in the campaigning of brilliant mare Quevega, but when she came to Punchestown to try to win the Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle for the fourth time she faced her most fearsome opponent yet in the Charles Byrnes-trained Solwhit, fresh from his victories in the Stayers' Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.

However, it was not to be. Solwhit was found to have blood in his nostril at the start and was withdrawn. Quevega registered an easy and impressive win over fine stayer Reve De Sivola, but we were robbed of a potentially epic clash.

2017 – Labaik up to his old tricks

Few horses made the headlines more than Labaik in the spring of 2017, many of them centred on his propensity to stand still at the start.

He was on his best behaviour at Cheltenham when he won the Supreme Novices' Hurdle under Jack Kennedy, but when he came back to Punchestown his old bad behaviour came to the fore again.

Labaik stood at the start and would not budge when the tapes went up in the Champion Novice Hurdle on the first day, so Gordon Elliott declared him for the Champion Hurdle on the fourth day and a couple of new wrinkles were tried. He was allowed to go to the start early, and soon before the race began, Elliott appeared at the start with a bottle full of stones in his hand.

Labaik plants himself at the start of the Champion Novice Hurdle at the 2017 Punchestown festivalCredit: Patrick McCann

Davy Russell managed to get Labaik on to the rail after the troublesome Diakali was withdrawn, and between that and the noise generated by Elliott through growling and shaking the bottle of stones, Labaik consented to jump off and finished a respectable fourth.

2018 – sister-in-law act

Two riders that may well have done more than anybody for the advancement of female jockeys in the last 20 years chose the Punchestown festival of 2018 to go out on a high.

Katie Walsh, winner of an Irish Grand National on Thunder And Roses and third in a Grand National on Seabass, wanted to go out on a winner, and did so when winning a novice hurdle on the penultimate day of the festival on the Willie Mullins-trained Antey.

Katie Walsh after retiring at Punchestown in 2018Credit: Patrick McCann

The surprise of that retirement announcement was followed less than 24 hours later by Walsh's sister-in-law and former champion amateur Nina Carberry hanging up her boots after winning a cross-country race on the Enda Bolger-trained Josies Orders.

They were trendsetters for their gender, and their legacy is now safe in the hands of riders such as Rachael Blackmore.

2018 – the Al Boum Photo incident

On the first day of the 2018 festival in the Grade 1 Growise Novice Chase, Al Boum Photo under Paul Townend was left three lengths in front by the fall of Monalee at the second-last and looked set for victory.

Suddenly, on the approach to the last, Townend took a look to his right and made a beeline towards the right-hand wing of the fence, taking Finian's Oscar with him and both crashed out through the rail.

Robbie Power (left) looks across at Paul Townend after the latter had taken him out of the Growise Champion Novice ChaseCredit: Patrick McCann

It was the most extraordinary occurrence, with the only explanation being Townend's claim he heard a call to bypass the final fence.

Townend showed his strength of character to come back and ride a treble next day, and with two Gold Cups in the bag since his partnership with Al Boum Photo did not exactly suffer either. But for a short while on that April day in 2018, he must have feared for his future.

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