Racing

TV View: RTÉ's top team of analysts clear every hurdle with aplomb at Leopardstown

Former jockey Davy Russell, Jane Mangan and Lisa O’Neill have all angles covered for RTÉ viewers

Jockey Daryl Jacob gets a guard of honour from his peers ahead of the final race of his career during the Leopardstown Festival. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Jockey Daryl Jacob gets a guard of honour from his peers ahead of the final race of his career during the Leopardstown Festival. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Philip Reid's picture
Philip Reid
Sun Dec 29 2024 - 18:03

The gift that keeps on giving, as it were.

Davy Russell’s retirement from the jump game opened up a new phase of his career in broadcasting and, as part of the RTÉ coverage of Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival of Racing, the former champion jockey brought insight and knowledge that again complemented an impressive team of analysts that included Jane Mangan and Lisa O’Neill.

There’s no doubt Russell and company know the game inside out, but the trick is to bring that knowledge base to a mixed viewership including racing advocates and those who only switch on at certain times of the year.

Leopardstown is one those festivals that spreads its appeal far and wide and the storylines that emerged on the fourth and final day of racing again showcased how, as Russell put it, Irish jump racing is “dining at the top table”.

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So, too are Russell, Mangan and O’Neill in terms of what they contribute in addition to the on-course post-race interviews conducted by Katie Walsh on horseback.

In advance of the Mares Hurdle, Mangan had picked out July Flower as the pick of the horses in the paddock.

“July Flower looks as if she’s wintered in Dubai, she looks absolutely fantastic,” said Mangan of the Henry de Bromhead-trained mare that would give Rachael Blackmore her first win since returning from injury.

The televised race again saw the last hurdle put out of commission due to the low sun. Here, Russell explained why the stewards had taken such a decision – with presenter Hugh Cahill quipping, “I’d rather the sun than the fog,” a reference to the low cloud cover of the first two days – for safety reasons.

“It’s just a funny one, it’s a divil of a hurdle. It’s the problem with the size of the shadow. If the shadow is the size of a jump, it’s too big to know which one is the jump. When the shadow is really small and narrow, all it is is a toe board, a take-off guide. It makes no difference,” explained Russell of why the hurdle was closed for the race.

Not that it made much difference to Blackmore and July Flower who romped to an emotional victory.

“She’s honest and game, she loves her racing,” said Blackmore to Walsh after the win, referring to the horse in what could also have been a comment about her own attitude and aptitude.

July Flower with Rachel Blackmore up on the way to winning the Irish EBF Mares Hurdle during day four of the Christmas Festival at Leopardstown. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA Wire.
July Flower with Rachel Blackmore up on the way to winning the Irish EBF Mares Hurdle during day four of the Christmas Festival at Leopardstown. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA Wire.

Goodness knows who will turn up in the parade ring on race days at Leopardstown at festival times and interviewer Brian Gleeson has the happy knack of finding his targets, among them hurlers Anthony Daly and Mark Landers of the well-named Camán Racing Syndicate.

In the build-up to Gleeson’s chat with the hurlers, Russell had showcased his other talent in doing a very good impersonation of Daly. The real Daly was asked by Gleeson who would win the All-Ireland next year, with Daly unsurprisingly going for Clare to retain the Liam MacCarthy.

“Back to back,” said Daly, in what sounded like a good name for a horse.

And Gleeson also collared Daryl Jacob – a Grade One winner at Limerick on Saturday – who recounted how he had decided to retire after a hugely successful career which included a win in the Aintree Grand National. Jacob rode Neptune Collonges to victory in 2012 at the Liverpool track, a win which Gleeson reminded him was by the “width of a light coat of paint”.

“I was the man on board but the horse did all the work,” said a modest Jacob of bringing his riding career to an end, a decision he made in the car park at Limerick. His final ride on Mr Percy at Leopardstown didn’t bring victory but he did have a guard of honour from his fellow jockeys.

Sequestered and Jack Gilligan are led into the winners' enclosure after winning the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Chase at Leopardstown. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA
Sequestered and Jack Gilligan are led into the winners' enclosure after winning the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Chase at Leopardstown. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA

The human stories behind the wins kept on coming our way, with the father-son combination of jockey Jack Gilligan and trainer Paul Gilligan steering 20/1 shot Sequestered to victory in the Adare Manor Opportunity Steeplechase.

“I thought I wouldn’t be talking to you this week,” said Gilligan to Walsh, revealing his own surprise at winning.

And Brighterdaysahead’s runaway win in the Nevilles Hotels Champion Hurdle had owner Michael O’Leary back to Gleeson’s microphone. Earlier, pro-race, O’Leary had told Gleeson how this was his first day at the races as he’d spent the previous three on parental duties driving his daughter – a promising pony rider – to her events.

O’Leary, though, was on hand for Brighterdaysahead’s win which fittingly marked trainer Gordon Elliott’s 100th Grade One career success.

When Gleeson put it to O’Leary that the Champions Hurdle at Cheltenham would now be a target, O’Leary quipped that his preferred option would be the Mares Hurdle. The two-way banter fitted in perfectly with the RTÉ coverage. Relaxed, and informative.

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