Spillane's Tower and Mark Walsh© Photo Healy Racing
J.P. McManus' Spillane's Tower followed up Fairyhouse's Easter festival Grade 1 success with a second successive top-level win today, proving a popular winner of Punchestown's Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase for trainer Jimmy Mangan.
The six-year-old won the WillowWarm Gold Cup at Fairyhouse in March and today, on his first attempt at 3m1f, arrived from rear-division under under Mark Walsh to eventually defeat Monty's Star by three-parts of a length in a nip and tuck finish.
The runner-up is unrelated to Monty's Pass, which indeed provided Mangan with his biggest win in the 2003 Aintree Grand National, and today he declared “J.P. - what a man for racing. Without the ammunition you can't fire the gun.
“There's nothing like this, it's a wonderful game and for the McManuses to breed the horse is the icing on the cake. I'm delighted to be delivering the goods for them.
“He looked the real deal (when receiving the horse) and I said 'if there's an engine inside that body, we're away'. Thankfully there is and what an engine he's got - he has class to burn.”
He added “we've never lost confidence in this horse, he's only six and hopefully his future is well ahead of him. He dealt with that (ground) fine but I wouldn't like to run him on tight ground as he's a big horse. It was my worry all week and I was delighted to see it rain.
“We had tried him at two miles but he was telling us all the time that he wanted further. He won at 2m4f and was always going away at the finish.
“We can dream during the summer now, hopefully all goes well and we'll be looking forward to the autumn.”
He then quipped “I was coming near to the end of the road but this really puts me back on the motorway again! All the big days are special but Punchestown is special.”
McManus and jockey Walsh had earlier won another top-level race with Mystical Power and the owner, whose other current novice chasers include dual Grade 1 winner Fact To File and Cheltenham winners Inothewayurthinkin and Corbetts Cross, added “Jimmy and has team have done a great job with him.
“It's wonderful to be here today and sharing it with them and their family. They are great for racing and you can see when they win a race how enthusiastic the crowd are.”
Quotes from Gary Carson
