Mister Policeman bounces back in style to prove fitting winner of Michael O'Sullivan Chase

Mister Policeman was a fitting winner of the feature Michael O'Sullivan Chase as the seven-year-old was the first winner the late jockey, in whose honour the Grade 3 was named, rode for Willie Mullins. 

O'Sullivan, who died following a fall at Thurles in February, guided Mister Policeman to victory in the conditions hurdle on this card two years ago, one of three winners he rode on a memorable Easter afternoon at his local track.

“It’s nice to win the race named after Michael and Janna [Walsh], who led Mister Policeman up, is a cousin of Michael's,” said winning rider JJ Slevin, who was completing a double the card. 

“This horse was Michael’s first winner for Willie, so it’s nice and he did it well. Willie said ride him for a bit of speed. The minute I got my leg into him and said go, he came alive. He was very impressive.” 

The classy 7-2 shot had a lofty reputation during his novice season but had been pulled up in his last two starts in handicaps and had not run since being pulled up in the Galway Plate last summer. 

“He might be back on track now hopefully. He’s not slow, he wouldn’t mind coming back in trip and even a bit of slower ground might be no harm to him,” Slevin added. 

Smooth operator

Smooth Tom put in a good performance under Cian Quirke to take the Bar One Racing Hurdle that Mister Policeman won two years ago.

The winner made a mistake at the second-last but that didn’t stop the Andy Slattery-trained six-year-old from powering to a five-and-a-half-length-victory over Jigoro.

The win had his trainer dreaming of unconventional routes. Slattery said: “We might supplement him for the Champion Hurdle at Punchestown. We have a couple of options, back here for the Cork Derby maybe as well. We’ll see what happens.”

Good Krak

Krak landed the most valuable handicap on the card, the 2m3f hurdle, under a patient ride from Slevin. The winner was having his first run in a handicap having finished third in his previous three hurdles, but an opening mark of 118 proved to be an underestimation of the Stuart Crawford-trained gelding's ability. 

The 9-1 shot was under pressure from the second-last but benefited from every yard of the run-in and ultimately was a comfortable two-length winner.

“It was a good performance because you need to be streetwise to win first time in a handicap,” said Slevin. “I think there’s improvement to come and who knows where he’ll end up."

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