Galway 2000 opened last night with success in the big race for a jockey who came close to starving himself for victory and a horse who apparently never previously believed in sacrificing anything.
Nevertheless Gamekeeper, who had never been in the first three in eight career starts before yesterday, roused himself to such an extent that he earned the £26,300 first pot for the GPT Handicap.
That was such a surprise that Gamekeeper returned to a 25 to 1 starting price and the public's view of his chance was such that he paid almost 66 to 1 on the Tote.
But maybe the horse caught the mood of his jockey Aidan Fitzgerald, who only secured the ride on the Pat Hughes-trained winner on Sunday morning and then set about losing 9lbs to make the 10st 4lbs that Gamekeeper had to carry.
"I'm wasted," gulped the 23-year-old rider after jumping off Gamekeeper's back. "I had an orange to eat this morning and that was it. But this is deadly, great."
It was the most prestigious of the 33 career winners that the Limerick-based jockey has had and he fully earned the plaudits - Hughes didn't hesitate to describe the winner as "a lazy devil".
Nevertheless, Hughes bought Gamekeeper at the sales for just £7,000 after the horse's fruitless career with Newmarket trainer Clive Brittain revealed he didn't share quite the same talent gene as his half brother, the 1998 Epsom Derby winner High-Rise. The Co Carlow trainer also retained a quarter share in the horse.
It looks a shrewd move now as Gamekeeper raced prominently throughout the two-mile contest and overhauled the pace-forcing Aboriginal in the straight.
Fitzgerald then got down to some serious business to keep Aboriginal and Gamekeeper's better-fancied stable companion Dark Trojan at bay by two necks.
"I was trying on Sunday morning to get a jockey based in England but it proved difficult. I must have made 10 calls, so when Aidan rang up looking for the ride I said you have it," grinned Hughes, who won the Galway Hurdle with Quinze last year.
"I was very lucky last year, so this time I said I would be happy to get one winner. It's great to get that in a big race," added Hughes, who runs Khaysan in tonight's McDonogh Handicap.
There was one sour note for the winning rider, however, as Fitzgerald picked up a two-day ban for using his whip with excessive frequency.
John Daniel Moore on the third horse Dark Trojan also got a two-day suspension for the same offence.
Despite the rain-soaked first day, it was the only sour note figures wise as there was a new opening day Tote record of £581,128, up almost £135,000 on last year while the attendance of 20,035 was up over 4,000.
No bookmaker figures were made available.
