Trainer Charles Byrnes landed a famous double at Leopardstown today where his Cloudy Bays ran his rivals ragged in the Leopardstown Chase while 30 minutes later Dromlease Express added the featured Pierce Hurdle to the Limerick man's tally, to the cheers of an army of supporters.
Byrnes' remarkable double began in the Leopardstown Chase when Ross Geraghty adopted customary front running tactics on Cloudy Bays whose bold jumping display helped him ease to a 14 lengths win over Be My Belle with large gaps separating the remaining finishers.
When asked about the handicapper's likely reaction to the performance, Byrnes stated 'I doubt he'll go up only 5 or 6lbs so he'll probably go for the Hennessy Gold Cup!'
Immediately after Cloudy Bays' success, Byrnes boldly predicted that 'which ever horse beats Dromlease Express in the Pierce Hurdle will win.'
Indeed, Dromlease Express was triumphant and provided 19 year old jockey John Allen with his biggest career success while Byrnes (40), despite his best efforts to resist, was lifted shoulder high by members of the winning RDS Syndicate.
Byrnes later reported 'he is a tough little horse who stays further than two miles. We really fancied the two runners today but for both to win was expecting an awful lot.'
Tom Taaffe's Emotional Moment entered the Sun Alliance Chase market at 25/1 after landing the Grade 3 Paddy Fitzgerald Memorial Novice Chase under Barry Geraghty. Despite making a mess of the final fence, Emotional Moment battled gamely to hold the challenge of Stashedaway by two and a half lengths.
Taaffe later stated 'he isn't the biggest horse and lacks a little bit of scope. However he has loads of guts and is very brave.'
Michael O'Brien saddled 4/9 favourite Away Home to win the opening PBS Hurdle under Ruby Walsh. O'Brien described the winner as 'a real chaser in the making. Although he will be entered in the Sun Alliance Hurdle, he wont run if the ground is too hard.'
Iggy Madden's Supergood completed his second win in five days in the SM Morris Handicap Hurdle under Flat jockey Seamus Heffernan while Royal All Star battled gamely under a strong drive from Robbie Colgan to win the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle (Qualifier) for trainer Ger Lyons.
The concluding newcomers' bumper was won for the second year running by the Eddie Hales-Alan Crowe combination when High Tech Made (13/2) defeated Pixie Dust by one and a half lengths.
