Geraghty wins on Champion candidate

Barry Geraghty is swiftly making up for time lost through injury and the dual Champion Jockey registered a fourth consecutive winning ride at Punchestown today on luckless Campeador who won the Coral.ie Racehorse Ownership Rated Hurdle for owner J.P. McManus and trainer Gordon Elliott.

Injury-hit Geraghty has missed nine important months race-riding out of the past 16, which have included big festivals at Galway, Cheltenham, Fairyhouse and Punchestown, but was today completing a double on the day, and a fourth consecutive winning ride, with Campeador.

Campeador has himself experienced bad fortune in his career thus far and having fallen at the final flight, when challenging, in the Fred Winter Hurdle at Cheltenham, was also a final flight faller when leading in a valuable handicap hurdle at Fairyhouse in December. Today, the five year old gelding scored an easy win over Wakea with bookmaker Paddy Power later leaving the winner’s price unchanged at 25/1 for the 2018 Cheltenham Champion Hurdle.

Relieved winning trainer Gordon Elliott later stated “he's a nice horse and we'll have to see where we go from here but he has a nice engine.

“We'll see where the lads want to go but he's going to have to improve a lot to be thinking about going that (Champion Hurdle) way. Once he's ok in the morning that's the most important thing and Barry said he could jump a fence.”

Unlucky at Cheltenham in 2016, Campeador deservedly gets off the mark for @gelliott_racing at @punchestownrace. @BarryJGeraghty going well! pic.twitter.com/0gQMphUntK

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 18, 2017

Quotes from Alan Magee