Matthew O'Connor might have been one of the least known riders in last evening's GPT Handicap but when you have Dermot Weld in your corner around Galway normal rules don't apply and the 19-year-old jockey proved the point yet again when winning the day one festival feature on Loyal Focus.
The winner's nine-length defeat of the red-hot favourite Essex was just the second of O'Connor's burgeoning career on the track and added to nine point-to-point victories but despite a lack of profile the Wexford jockey was still Weld's pick once Loyal Focus's intended rider, Robbie McNamara, couldn't do the weight.
"The same thing happened at the Curragh in May and Mr Weld asked me to ride," said O'Connor. "It must have gone okay because he got in touch again last week. The horse was great. I might have gone to the front too soon but he won so well it made no difference."
Loyal Focus sat an isolated third off a good pace for much of the race and when O'Connor pressed the button coming down the hill the race was quickly over. Looking on, Weld was happy at a well-rehearsed plan coming off that secured a first winner of the 2007 festival.
"This is a race where tactics can win for you and the plan has come off to perfection. Matthew thought there might be one or two front runners so I told him to be no worse than third and then kick. It is slow ground and he had a light weight so we made the most of that," said Weld.
That the trainer should know how to ride the GPT is hardly surprising since he first burst to public notice as a 16-year-old when riding Ticonderoga to win the race in 1964. He also trained and rode Spanner to win three times (1972-'73-'75). "It was just Matthew's third ride for me but I saw him last spring and I thought this is a boy with a future. He's the best 7lb claimer in the country.
"He (Loyal Focus) will now go for the Galway Hurdle on Thursday. He's a staying horse with a light weight (9st 12lb) and that's what you need on soft ground," Weld added.
Loyal Focus is now a 12 to 1 shot to become the first horse in 17 years to try to complete the GPT-Guinness Hurdle double on Thursday, a race that Essex could also still run in.
The 9 to 4 favourite's jockey Denis Cullen reported: "He didn't come down the hill very well and the winner slipped away."
Weld described the going as slow yesterday but a baking sun contributed to ground conditions that appeared to be a lot better than was widely anticipated even though an official description of "soft to heavy" was in place for the first three races.
After the third it was changed to "soft" but from the National Hunt riders especially there was surprise at how the track rode. "Yielding" was Ruby Walsh's verdict while "slow side of good" was the report from both Barry Geraghty and Denis O'Regan who landed the handicap hurdle on the 14 to 1 shot Rainbow Dash.
Loyal Focus might have won the big race but those backing Dermot Weld favourites didn't fare well with the odds-on Lisselan Eagle managing only third to the English-trained Hovering in the novice hurdle and the heavily supported Domestic Fund failing by a head to give Weld an 18th success in the juvenile maiden.
Kieren Fallon got the Aidan O'Brien runner Lucifer Sam up in the closing stages to win and the jockey was impressed by the son of the world's most valuable stallion, Storm Cat. "This track teaches horses a lot and I think he will be a very smart two-year-old on better ground. He idled when he got there," Fallon said.
"It's quite testing for two-year-olds out there and the best and the strongest horse won," was Weld's verdict.
Emily Blake's bad draw didn't stop her starting a 2 to 1 favourite in the seven-furlong handicap but that didn't stop Paul Townend's mount scampering clear for an easy win. "She will have a break and come back in September where we'll try and find a little race with a sprinkling of black type," said trainer John Hayden.
