Jim Dreaper's initiative in allowing Merry Gale take his chance against Klairon Davis at a rain-lashed Fairyhouse yesterday paid off spectacularly when Merry Gale comprehensively outpointed the former champion chaser.
At Tuesday's declaration time, Dreaper had consulted the Minitel system to withdraw his horse, Ollimar, from the opener, when he noticed that only two remained in the Jones Engineering Handicap Chase.
Although Merry Gale had looked to have a hard race when runner-up to Imperial Call in Sunday's Ericsson Chase, Dreaper left Merry Gale in; and the Leopardstown race seemed to have taken nothing out of the horse as he made all to beat the 4 to 7 favourite by nine lengths.
"Had there been a few more runners I wouldn't even have declared him," grinned Dreaper afterwards. "This is a great bonus. He had been a bit stiff at Leopardstown and it was a worry running him again so quickly, but he was getting a fair bit of weight from Klairon Davis."
Merry Gale was, in fact, getting 17lb, and he was always dominating. A good jump at the third last sealed his advantage.
"We've hit Merry Gale on a good day and it's hard giving weight away to a horse like that," said Klairon Davis's trainer, Arthur Moore. "The main thing is we've got a run into him and he'll have one more run before Cheltenham," he added.
Richard Dunwoody wasn't too downhearted with Klairon Davis and said: "The ground could have been heavier than ideal for him, but even with that and the high wind down the back, he jumped well. The way Merry Gale's wind is, the quick run may have even suited him."
The sting in the tail for Dreaper, though, was that after leaving Merry Gale in, he forgot to take out Ollimar and was given a a £100 fine by the stewards when Ollimar was declared in error!
Merry Gale's rider, Conor O'Dwyer, went on to complete a double with Liver Bird, who was an easy odds-on winner of the Beginners Chase, but for young Francis Berry it was an even more memorable double day.
The son of the legendary former champion jump jockey Frank Berry is 17 today, and celebrated with his first winner over hurdles when Ted Walsh's Total Success won the Fairyhouse Handicap Hurdle. Half an hour later, Berry, a promising apprentice on the flat with 12 winners, doubled his National Hunt total when Make A Move won the Hangover Maiden Hurdle for Co Louth permit holder Thomas Matthews.
"We'll be looking for a few more rides for him now," said Berry Snr, who added: "He's quite tall and his future is over jumps but he should get at least another season out of the flat."
Another young jockey, Paul Hourigan, was 17 on Wednesday and continued the celebrations with a smooth win on his father's Don't Waste it, who accelerated clear of Speed Board on the run-in of the First Crack Handicap Hurdle.
With Klairon Davis defeated, it hadn't been a particularly good day for Arthur Moore, but it ended on a better note when Society Brief justified 5 to 4 favouritism in the bumper.
Society Brief is owned by the Society Syndicate, a Thurlesbased syndicate, of which the Independent TD and former cabinet minister Michael Lowry is a member.
Racing opened with Sawa-Id thriving on the soft ground and snugly beating the favourite, Taoibhin, in the New Year Maiden Hurdle to become the first winner of 1998.
