Samrco has done it.
The Irish banker going into the Cheltenham Festival, Samcro has delivered on the hype.
After a tough Tuesday where his horses were out of form and suffered bad luck in running, Meath trainer Gordon Elliott was under a lot of pressure to get off the mark here.
Apple’s Jade was beaten by horses that she should be beating in the Mares’ Hurdle. Others like Jury Duty didn’t run to form. So on top of pressure, doubts were there that Elliott’s stable wasn’t in form and that Samrco might struggle as a result in Wednesday’s opener, the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Gigginstown House Stud owned 6-year-old settled into the race well. He jumped like a stag from pillar to post and quickened away from the field at the brow of the hill when put under pressure by Jack Kennedy.
Noel Fehily’s Black Op made late strides up the run in but Samcro had too much for them all.
Samcro is owned by Ryanair chief, Michael O’Leary. O’Leary is famously a great interviewee.
ITV’s Matt Chapman is a great interviewer. The result when you bring them both together, tv gold.
Their strong personalities clashed after Samcro’s last run in Leopardstown and that transpired in some classic insults traded between the pair. Chapman gave O’Leary digs about his Ryanair pilots going on strike, O’Leary kept playing down Samcro.
Less than two minutes after Samcro had passed the post first, Chapman had him lined up for an interview. His aim, to get O’Leary waxing lyrical about his unbeaten hurdler.
Chapman: Michael O’Leary, you’ve just won the Ballymore with the divine intervention horse Samcro. Michael, the two best judges in the world.
O’Leary: “He was terrific under a brilliant ride from Jack Kennedy who had him in the right place the whole way around. It’s good for Gordon, too, it gets Gordon off the boards today.
MC: Are you a believer in this horse now?
MOL: No, it’s still not enough for the Matt Chapman hype but he’s a winner in Cheltenham, he’s going the right way about it.
MC: Samcro has won the Ballymore!!
Jack Kennedy was similarly impressed.
“If he keeps improving. Who knows where he’ll stop? I’ve never ridden a Gold Cup horse so I wouldn’t know, but he’s definitely a chaser.”
Gordon Elliot’s reaction to the win told it all.
He needed that one.
That meant a lot to Gordon Elliott pic.twitter.com/H5OcVgvvGF
— Niall McIntyre (@NiallMcintyre) March 14, 2018
Video Credit: ITV.
