Cut The Rope and Eoin O'Brien© Photo Healy Racing
Richard O'Brien received high praise from winning connections at Naas today as the predominantly-flat trainer prepared, and sold, Paul Nolan's debutante Cut The Rope to land the concluding Fifty Stars Bumper.
Nine of the ten runners were newcomers with Cut The Rope (5/1) being the well-touted third-favourite, under Eoin O'Brien. Making all, the son of Sea The Stars showed speed and stamina to defeat the Gordon Elliott-trained Ankud by two lengths.
O'Brien won the 2022 renewal with Impulsive Dancer and today, trainer Nolan's brother and assistant James Nolan said “we can't take a whole lot of praise for this one as it goes to Richard O'Brien - we don't have him very long.
“Richard had recommended him to us and we bought him after doing a gallop. We made a mistake last year, he told us he'd win this bumper with Impulsive Dancer but we didn't act quickly enough. Impulsive Dancer won and Willie (Mullins) bought him, but thankfully we haven't made the same mistake twice!
“Richard did a wonderful job, he's a lovely straight fella and a great fella to deal with. He trained him basically as he's not long in our place.
“He's a lovely relaxed horse, showed a great attitude today and is a real pro. Barry O'Neill would ride all our bumper horses but part of the deal (with O'Brien) was that Eoin would keep the ride. He gave him a super ride and dictated everything in front.
“He's a very likeable horse. We have no plans but he might go to Limerick for a listed bumper.”
Quotes from Gary Carson
