RACING:Ireland's champion jockey Ruby Walsh secured a memorable King George VI victory on Kauto Star in Kempton yesterday but at Leopardstown's famous St Stephen's Day fixture it was his young colleague Andrew McNamara who brought some Christmas joy to home punters.
Combining with trainer Edward O'Grady, the 24-year-old rider completed a near 49 to 1 three-timer highlighted by the win of Sky's The Limit in the 120,000 Durkan New Homes Novice Chase.
Just four horses lined up for the Grade One feature but lack of numbers didn't prevent a classic finish, with Sky's The Limit, a 5 to 4 favourite, beating Lenrey by a head after a titanic struggle from the last fence.
That added to earlier wins for McNamara on Tranquil Sea and Shazand and it could have been even better as his mount Peplum looked the winner of the second race only to fall at the last hurdle and hand victory to Taravada.
"They all came here with chances and different people in the yard fancied different horses. I fancied Sky's The Limit but the main thing is they've all run up to their mark," said McNamara, who still could not help thinking about the one that got away.
"Peplum has been ready to run for a while but got no chance to run. You hate missing out on any race but especially at Leopardstown on St Stephen's Day," he added.
An official crowd of 17,004 paid through the turnstiles at Leopardstown, which was a drop of just over 1,000 on last year's corresponding St Stephen's Day fixture.
Bookmaker turnover was down over 100,000 to 1,443,439 and the Tote figure of 533,072 was also down slightly.
Over at Kempton Walsh had to settle for one winner but what a winner it was as Kauto Star joined some immortal steeplechasing names by winning a second King George in a row.
The 4 to 6 favourite had 11 lengths in hand of Our Vic with Exotic Dancer in third, and Kauto Star was quickly cut to as low as evens favourite to repeat in March his success in last season's Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
It completed a fairytale comeback from injury for Walsh, who was out with a dislocated shoulder for five weeks and only returned to action last Sunday.
"It was a bit special. He's a fantastic horse. There wouldn't be a better horse of my generation," Walsh reported. "He stays so well but I had the others stone cold at the fourth last in the King George. That speaks for itself. I wouldn't swap him in the Gold Cup."
Kauto Star's stable companion, and fellow Gold Cup contender, Denman is set to run in tomorrow's Lexus Chase at Leopardstown but today's highlight at the Foxrock track will be the €190,000 Paddy Power Chase.
A maximum of 30 runners will line up for the big handicap and the sponsors were last night betting 10 to 1 joint favourites, Benefit Night and Well Tutored.
The odds-on Harchibald was the main Irish hope of major cross-channel success yesterday but Noel Meade's enigmatic star was beaten by the JP McManus-owned Straw Bear in another tight finish.
"Paul (Carberry) said he was in trouble down the back straight and it is pretty testing ground, which he was never happy on," said Meade's partner, Gillian O'Brien. "He will probably go straight for the Champion Hurdle now, although he might have a run on the all-weather at Dundalk first."
Today's cross-channel feature is the Coral Welsh Grand National at Chepstow, in which Willie Mullins's Homer Wells will carry Irish interest. The horse will be ridden by Davy Condon, while Walsh will be looking for another big-race success on Gungadu for the champion British trainer Paul Nicholls.
There will also be action in Ireland today at Limerick, where the second day of their four-day Christmas festival starts at 12.40pm.
