Saratoga and Walsh sail to impressive Grade One triumph at Punchestown

Updated at 18.10

MARK WALSH MADE his last Grade One ride for JP McManus a winning one when guiding Saratoga to victory in the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle.

A Gold Cup-winning jockey in the green and gold silks of McManus, he is due to depart his role as the owner’s retained jockey, with Harry Cobden taking over — but before doing so, he still had time for one final magical moment in the famous silks.

After bringing up his 900th career victory earlier in the Punchestown Festival, he made the final Grade One of the week his own, sending the Fred Winter winner on approaching the last and drawing three and three-quarter lengths clear aboard the 9-2 shot at the winning post.

It was also a first Grade One for winning trainer Padraig Roche, son of Christy Roche and someone the jockey counts as a close friend.

“To ride a Grade One winner for your best friend, that was brilliant,” said Walsh.

“He’s a brilliant trainer; he learned from the best in Christy, and you saw it there.

“He stays all, and he galloped all the way to the line; he’s a good horse. It’s always hard for four-year-olds going into open company next season, so we don’t know yet (if it can be a Champion Hurdle horse).”

Roche said, “We hoped he would do that, and he has obviously proven himself. To win any race at the Punchestown Festival is great, but to win a first Grade One here is unbelievable. I’m over the moon.

“Alan Crowe recommended buying the horse through his job in Ballydoyle, and dad convinced JP to buy him. Alan was first jockey to dad for years and told us if we could buy this horse, to do so.

“We take whatever horses we get from JP every year, and I’m delighted for him, as he has always been there. In total, we only have 10 or 12 jump horses and six or seven Flat ones, so I’d love to get more and further outside owners.

“I haven’t a clue where he runs next!”

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Elsewhere, Bow Echo ran out a brilliant winner of the Betfred 2000 Guineas at Newmarket for trainer George Boughey and jockey Billy Loughnane.

Unbeaten as a two-year-old, the Night Of Thunder colt — bred by his late owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid — was always travelling supremely well, with the field splitting into two groups.

He came to join battle with 3-1 joint-favourite Gstaad, and coming out of the dip, it was Loughnane’s mount who proved the strongest, powering to a two-and-three-quarter-length victory at 9-2, with the pair eight lengths clear of the other market leader, Distant Storm.

Loughnane said, “I’ve wanted to be a jockey since the day I was born and to find a horse like this at 20 years old, I can’t thank everyone enough. I can’t put it into words. I’ve never had a feeling like that in my life.

“I’ve been riding out for George since I was 16, and he’s really pushed me to the next level. What a trainer.

“I’m very fortunate to ride such good racehorses, and he’s a superstar, a dream to ride. I planned the race out, going a million different directions, but it was the perfect A to B and what a feeling.

“He’s had the perfect preparation, and George is a genius — it just shows when he gets the stock what he can do.”

For Boughey, it was a second success in the Classics, making him the youngest at 34 to win both the 2000 Guineas and 1000 Guineas.

However, while Cachet was 16-1 when winning the fillies’ edition in 2022, Bow Echo has carried the pressure of Guineas favourite throughout the winter, bringing about a mixture of nerves, excitement and trepidation, all released in a thrilling performance.

Boughey said: “I was quite emotional earlier, it’s very rare to find a horse that trains like him and to have the pedigree to back it up was really what we needed.

“I showed a bit of excitement out there, but I’ve been very calm because he’s such an easy horse to train. I’m just lucky to have him, and it wasn’t a surprise today.

“This horse has the most extraordinary brain; he’s so unassuming, and you wouldn’t know he’s there, and he makes my job easy.

“The confidence was pretty high, and his work had suggested that. It was over to Billy to execute, and he did; he was fast asleep going to post, and Billy has a great affinity with this horse.

“I think he’s almost a difficult ride as he’s so relaxed and to wait and not commit in a Guineas when he was fast asleep out there trying to pick his gap, he’s executed his plan brilliantly.

“Billy said he had to kick him to the start, but once you put him in the stalls, he comes alive, and I was always confident, he was exactly where I wanted him, and he was just great.

“It’s huge to win a 2000 Guineas as a Newmarket trainer, it’s kind of the pinnacle really.”

Boughey was also keen to give a nod to Sheikh Obaid, who had been steadfast in his refusal of his trainer’s desire to run again after his Royal Lodge victory last season, with the Craven House handler now keen to make his stable star the outstanding miler of his generation.

“At the back-end of his two-year-old season, I wanted to run him in races like the Dewhurst and Breeders’ Cup, but Sheikh Mohammed Obaid was watching today, and he would be telling me he was right,” continued Boughey.

“He was right, this horse has strengthened and matured. I had sent him a video last year saying how I wanted to run him in the Dewhurst, and he said ‘no’ because he was a child. He was a child against men last year, but now he’s top of the pile.

“I think he’s every right to be held in the highest regard. For his generation, he is an outstanding horse, and he’s beaten a horse in Gstaad who is a standing dish and a Breeders’ Cup winner.

“I think he’s a fast horse who stays, which is obviously a huge asset. He’s not a Derby horse, and he’s not in the Derby.

“He’s a horse who has always shown a huge turn of foot, and I want to make him the champion miler if I can. The Irish 2,000 Guineas is there, and so is Royal Ascot (St James’s Palace Stakes), and then he will have to take on the older horses.

“We’ll look to make him a dual Guineas winner, I would say, but he will tell us — he’s a very expressive horse.”