'Horses are a passion for me' - Paddy Corkery elated after first Grade 1 win

Sunday: Limerick

Neither trainer Paddy Corkery nor rider Ian Power had previously managed to get close to Grade 1 glory, but the trainer's star turn Master McShee showed he belongs in this sort of company as he got up in the last stride to land the BoyleSports Faugheen Novice Chase.

The commentator was certainly fooled. Who knows how many others were, as the son of Malinas was in front nowhere but the line as he reeled in favourite Farouk D'Alene to win by a short head.

No other outcome looked likelier than a Farouk D'Alene success when he appeared to take control of the race before the second-last.

Power had been making smooth progress on Master McShee from the descent to the straight, however, although he didn't really get going until jumping the last where the momentum he built up proved irresistible.

Veteran rider Power, who has had some years out of the saddle but has been enjoying a decent season before this first Grade 1 success, said: "I've made a few wrong choices along the way and to ride a Grade 1 winner at this stage of my career is unbelievable.

"I would not be here if it wasn't for the support of people like Paddy Corkery and John Kiely, and my parents, who have stuck with me through thick and thin."

A year ago, Master McShee was winning a handicap hurdle at the Leopardstown Christmas festival, and owner-trainer Corkery had reportedly turned down significant money for him. This was the reward.

Watch Master McShee's last-gasp victory in the Grade 1 BoyleSports Faugheen Novice Chase

The trainer from Villierstown, County Waterford, said: "Rumour has it we turned down big money. He was not for sale. It was said that I didn't have to sell him. They were wrong. I didn't want to sell him."

He added: "The horse had burst a blood vessel on his only previous Grade 1 at Leopardstown, but we thought we had a Grade 1 horse coming here and we were confident.

"After he burst we wrapped him in cotton wool and it didn't work, so we've been training him properly this season. I built a shed outdoors for him and he was working well off of that.

"This is my joy. Horses are a passion for me. I ride him out every day myself and he is a gentleman of a horse, a total joy to have anything to do with.

"I haven't been in horses for that long, I didn't start hunting until about the age of 40, but I enjoy it so much. It's Ian's first Grade 1 winner and I'm delighted to have given it to him. We get on very well and he has been perfect on the horse the whole time."

Asked about plans, he replied: "A couple of bottles of wine tonight and a few pints of Guinness if I can get them is the short-term plan.

"I wouldn't necessarily think of bringing this horse to Cheltenham. I've been going to England for years buying tractors and I thought it was hardship. I'm enjoying doing what I've been doing with him and we might stick to the Dublin Racing Festival and the Punchestown festival."

Tiger roars

The Noel Meade-trained Daly Tiger reverted to hurdles having been campaigned for a couple of seasons over fences, and it was as if he had never been away as he put in a slick round of jumping on increasingly testing ground to win the 2m4f conditions hurdle.

A fine jump at the last saw off off 9-2 shot Choice Of Words by two-and-a-quarter lengths, a victory that should open up a few more opportunities for him.

Rider Eoin Walsh said: "It was a good battling effort. He was good and gutsy on very testing ground, but he jumped super. I just wanted to take my time on him to give him a chance to get home. He's a classy type of horse and was very slick today."

Results, replays and analysis

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