'The horse of a lifetime' - 15-year-old banks star retired after festival win

Thursday: Punchestown

On a day of retirements, Robbie Power beat Ballyboker Bridge to it by about 40 minutes, but Peter Maher's ageless wonder had his day in the Punchestown sun at the age of 15 by winning Ireland's longest race for the second time.

A specialist horse in a banks race could not sign off on a bigger high, and his trainer is a specialist in this sort of race too. Indeed, this is not the only old horse Maher has managed to keep sweet into his dotage.

The way Ballyboker Bridge galloped, stayed and negotiated these unique obstacles to score under Tiernan Power Roche showed that he could have a day or two more in him, but the decision had already been made to pull the plug.

Maher said about the oldest horse to win a Punchestown festival race in modern times: "He's not the best horse in the world, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and he has been a horse of a lifetime for me, and like me he's a bit cracked!"

An accident on the M7 motorway in County Tipperary meant that likely favourite Shady Operator did not get to the track, and it was something which Maher acknowledged.

"When Enda's [Bolger] horse came out it was a penalty kick!" he said. "[Runner-up] Singing Banjo is great, but he was loaded up with weight and Vital Island didn't get home. I was able to take 7lb off him with Tiernan and he is the hot new kid on the block. But it's a day for the old boys."

Cullen's old boy does the business too

The day for the veterans continued when the 11-year-old A Great View recorded a fifth career win in the Grade B handicap hurdle, his first victory since landing the same race at the 2018 festival.

A talented horse for whom everything has to fall right, the JP McManus-owned son of Kayf Tara was given a peach of a ride by Mark Walsh as he arrived there with a good jump at the final flight and used the momentum to score by two and three-quarter lengths from Bugs Moran. A better jump at the last from the second might have led to a different outcome, but A Great View deserved another day at this level.

A Great View (right) makes it a day for the veterans as he lands the Grade B handicap hurdleCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

It has been a quiet season for the winner's trainer Denis Cullen – just his fourth success of the season and his first since October – but this result puts a considerable gloss on it.

Cullen said: "He won this race before and when you're coming to this festival with one bullet you try and put it where you think you can do most damage. We've always had faith in this horse. He likes it around here and he likes this nice ground as it helps him to travel.

"He had been running well. He was second to Commander Of Fleet in a valuable race at Navan. He needs luck in running and doesn't like the argy-bargy, but if he gets a clear run and a bit of room he enjoys himself.

"Mark gave him a super ride. We were unlucky at Cheltenham, we missed out on running in the Pertemps by one or two. The year he won here before he had run well at Cheltenham so we're delighted it worked out this time."

Cullen added: "I have probably ten or 15 for the summer. We have plenty of stables and there is no doubt that we have the facilities. We can do the job, but getting the right horses is hard as they are very expensive. Getting owners with plenty of money is what we need!"

Crowds up

The crowd figure for day three of the festival was a record for Thursday. The attendance of 21,357 was marginally up on the 20,756 in attendance on the equivalent day in 2019.

Results, replays and analysis

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