CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL:BIRTHDAY PRESENTS don't come much better than this. A day after he turned 57, billionaire businessman JP McManus saw his horses take the first and second prize in the first race of the festival. Then Nina Carberry went on to give him another winner in the fifth race.
We all know the quandary you are presented with when two of your horses are in the same race and it was no different for the Limerick man when Captain Cee Bee and Binocular lined up for the Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices' Hurdle. "I did not know which one to fancy," he said afterwards.
"It was a shame one of my horses had to lose." Asked if he had backed the winner, Captain Cee Bee, he said "not a lot, I had a little on him, to be honest". How much is "a little" in the world of JP McManus, the man who generously hosted 1,500 guests at his daughter's wedding last July? It seemed rude to ask, but JP also admitted to putting "a little" on Binocular, to avoid any favouritism. Asked if he would stay for the week of racing, the most prodigious owner in National Hunt racing quipped "if the money lasts".
Captain Cee Bee's trainer Eddie Harty found himself in the unusual position of receiving his presentation from his former employer yesterday. He spent about 15 years working as a currency trader in London with Anglo Irish Bank and never dreamed that he would see his first winner romp home at Cheltenham in the Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices' Hurdle.
He agreed that it was always nice when your employer gave you something back and said it was even nicer to be standing in the winners' enclosure when you received it. "That's my redundancy payment from them," the jubilant trainer said. "It's turned full circle now." It was truly a family affair for the Hartys as the horse is named after his grandfather, Captain C B Harty, who was a showjumper with the Irish Army team and trained the Irish Grand National winner Knight's Crest in 1944.
Winning the first race was a good start for the Irish and Tipperary deputy Michael Lowry wore the satisfied expression of a man who had just backed a winner at a good price. "I fancied him all week," he said. "It takes JP to deliver." EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy was another happy man.
"I've backed a winner," he cried as he headed for the winners' enclosure after the race with his wife Noeleen. Asked if he had placed a large bet, he said: "I've made enough to pay for today anyway." After the first race, excited punters were predicting a great week for the Irish but Charlie McCreevy was more circumspect. "Never get carried away after the first race. That's stupidity."
And he was proved right at the end of the day when only two Irish-trained horses had won, and the Champion Hurdle, a race which belongs to the Irish, passed them by. Nevertheless, the Irish Independent Arkle Challenge Trophy was also being claimed by the Irish, with an Irish-bred horse, Tidal Bay, and an Irish jockey Denis O'Regan. It was the first win for the elated 25-year-old jockey from Youghal. "It's fantastic, a great feeling, the best in the world," he said.
"I've produced the goods on the big stage, so happy days." And happy days will be expected by the syndicate who chartered a plane from Knock to take 132 people to Cheltenham to watch their horse Corskeagh Royale, run in the Bumper today. "This hasn't always been the happiest hunting ground for me," said their cautious trainer Noel Meade. He will be hoping that they bring some divine inspiration from Knock Shrine with them.
