Boylesports International

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Boylesports.com International 2006
09/12/06

Detroit City
© racing-images.co.uk

1 Detroit City (USA) 4/6
2 Hardy Eustace (IRE) 6/4

Philip Hobbs and Richard Johnson teamed up to lift Cheltenham's £200,000 boylesports.com International with Detroit City.

Johnson elected to set a steady gallop throughout the first half of the contest on the Terry Warner-owned 4-6 favourite before quickening it steadily from the fourth-last flight.

After Hardy Eustace appeared to have been beaten off before the last, the dual Champion Hurdle hero found a second wind and flew up the hill. Detroit City had won his race by that point, however, and hung on to record a pleasing length victory.

Detroit City was none too fluent over some of his hurdles but warmed to his task as the tempo quickened, with Johnson looking around momentarily before the pair turned into the home straight.

Hardy Eustace quickly drew alongside on the sprint to the last but Detroit City found an impressive burst of speed to quicken two or three lengths ahead on the approach.

He met the last in his stride and looked set to clear away to another ready success before the Dessie Hughes-trained runner staged a late rally.

Despite the Irish raider staying on well up the Prestbury Park incline, Detroit City always looked to be holding the runner-up and stuck on well to take his unbeaten run to six over timber.

Crow Wood, a 33-1 shot, grabbed third, 10 lengths behind the front two, but never threw down a meaningful challenge.

Crow Wood to Fly High in Boylesports.com International 06/12/06
Malton-based trainer John Quinn is hoping to plunder some of the tremendous prize- money on offer at Cheltenham this weekend by sending Crow Wood to contest the £200,000 Grade Two Boylesports.com International on Saturday, December 9. [more]

Big Guns Considering Boylesports.com International 05/12/06
Connections of the very best hurdlers from both Britain and Ireland today revealed that they are seriously considering running their charges in the £200,000 Boylesports.com International.. . [more]

Top Irish Duo To Be Entered In Boylesports.com International 28/11/06
Dual Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle winner Hardy Eustace and crack mare Asian Maze are to be entered in the £200,000 Grade Two Boylesports.com International. [more]

Warner Confidence Grows Ahead Of Detroit's Boylesports.com International Bid 21/11/06

Owner Terry Warner is confident that star grey Detroit City can carry his famous yellow and black colours to victory in the £200,000 Boylesports.com International over two miles and a furlong at Cheltenham.

The Boylesports.com International is one of the season's premier races for Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle candidates. Boylesports, Ireland's fastest growing independent bookmaker, has transformed the prize money and is also offering a huge £200,000 bonus (£180,000 to the owner, £10,000 to the trainer & £10,000 to the yard's stable staff) to any horse that can win the Boylesports.com International and the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 13.

Warner was thrilled with the Philip Hobbs-trained Detroit City's impressive victory under top-weight in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham on November 12, a win that evoked memories of the owner's late Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle victor Rooster Booster (also trained by Hobbs), who won the same contest in 2002 before capturing the predecessor to the Boylesports.com International and that season's Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle.

The owner revealed this morning: "Detroit City is on course for the Boylesports.com International. We called in to see him at the yard the other day and he looks a million dollars. He's very well and Philip (Hobbs) is pleased with him.

"It's very good prize money and the £200,000 bonus is tremendous. Owners like myself are always pleased when new sponsors come in, especially if they're offering another £200,000 for winning both races!"

Back In Front (2004) and Harchibald (2005) have taken the last two runnings of what is now the Boylesports.com International and Irish-trained horses have also captured the last three renewals of the Smurfit-Kappa Champion Hurdle, with Rooster Booster's 2003 success the last by a British-trained horse.

Warner, however, is growing increasingly confident that Detroit City has what it takes to bring the hurdling crown back to Britain.

He said: "It was interesting watching the opposition in the Morgiana Hurdle in Ireland on Sunday. I wouldn't be worried about Brave Inca now - he has to improve an awful lot on that run.

"Iktitaf is a nice horse who has done everything they've asked. He won the Irish Cesarewitch on the Flat, but Detroit City carried the equivalent of a stone more in the English Cesarewitch, so I'm getting more confident by the minute.

"He didn't beat so much in the Greatwood Hurdle - I don't get too carried away - but he did it very well, and although it wasn't a fast time, it was the fastest time of the day.

"I'm growing more confident with him because he's a stronger horse than last season. Richard Johnson felt he cruised down the Cheltenham hill last time and he let him go his own pace. He won so easily and Richard never had to ask him. He only made a mistake at the last because he was so far clear that Richard steadied him instead of pinging it.

"We're very pleased with the horse and we're quite hopeful now. It would be nice to follow up in the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle. The only thing against him is the stats. He'll only be five and the last five-year-old to win it was See You Then in 1985."

Warner believes there could be more improvement to come from the four-year-old who has won five of six hurdles starts, including the Grade One JCB Triumph Hurdle at The Festival in March, and has not tasted defeat since finishing eighth on his hurdling debut at Warwick in December, 2005.

He commented: "Detroit City is a great big horse - he's 17 hands - so we'd like to think there's more to come from him. We gave him a little breathing operation which seems to have helped him at the start of this season. He's won six on the trot so he's a great favourite of mine.

"Everyone keeps telling me he wants further but he broke the track record in the JCB Triumph Hurdle and the trainer and jockey seem to be coming round to my way of thinking now.

"If all goes well, providing he's fit and healthy, he's on target for the Boylesports.com International and then we'll hopefully take him back to Cheltenham for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle."

The newly-named Boylesports International showcases two days of fantastic racing at Cheltenham on Friday, December 8, and Saturday, December 9, and also features the £150,000 Boylesports.com Gold Cup, which has received a £40,000 boost thanks to Boylesports' generous sponsorship.

The two mile, five furlong handicap chase, which is another highlight on Saturday's excellent seven-race card, saw 16 high-class chasers go to post last year and was won by the Noel Meade-trained Sir Oj, who defeated Le Passing by a length with subsequent Betfred Gold Cup victor Lacdoudal five lengths further back in third.

Day one of the two-day Boylesports International on Friday, December 8, features the three mile, one and a half furlong Boylepoker.com Chase and the handicap carries fantastic doubled prize money of £100,000.

The Boylesports International will be staged on Cheltenham's New Course, which has not been used since May.

The Boylesports.com International 18/10/06

This year’s Boylesports.com International is worth an incredible £200,000, making the two mile, one furlong contest the second most valuable hurdle race in Britain and Ireland, after the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle.

Any horse that wins the Boylesports.com International and goes on to take the showpiece two-mile hurdle at The Festival in March will land their connections a bonus of £200,000.

The Boylesports.com International was run as the Cheltenham Trial Hurdle until 1977 when the name was changed to the Bula Hurdle, after the top-class Cheltenham winner. It has alway been one of the leading examinations for the Champion Hurdle.

Scottish Memories won the initial running in 1963 while the following two renewals went to winners of the Champion Hurdle, Magic Court and Salmon Spray.

Fulke Walwyn saddled the Willie Robinson-ridden Sempervivum to take the 1966 event and, earlier that year, the eight-year-old had finished the runner-up to Salmon Spray in the Champion Hurdle.

Pendil was another high-class performer to win the Boylesports.com International. He was successful in 1970 for trainer Fred Winter and went to even greater heights over fences, capturing the feature chase at this meeting, the Boylesports.com Gold Cup, three years later.

Bula, the racehorse after whom this prestigious event was named for many years, was another success for Winter, prevailing in 1972 by one and a half lengths from the Peter Bailey-trained Canasta Lad, who had himself won the 1971 contest. The great Bula, who was ridden by Paul Kelleway, won the Champion Hurdle in 1971 and 1972.

Bula’s owner Captain Bill Edwards-Heathcote has maintained his Cheltenham links, having experienced success with Village King in the 2002 Golden Miller Handicap Chase.

Fred Rimell trained Comedy Of Errors to win the Boylesports.com International two years running in 1973 and 1974. Comedy Of Errors was also a dual Champion Hurdle winner (1973 and 1975). Bill Smith rode Comedy Of Errors to three of those four successes.

The great hurdler Bird’s Nest was the first horse to win the Boylesports.com International three times, being successful in 1977, 1978 and 1980.

Bob Turnell saddled Bird’s Nest to the first two of his successes, with son Andy in the saddle. Andy Turnell went on to complete the three-timer in the saddle and was also the trainer in 1980, following his father’s death.

The other three-time winner was Relkeel, who gained successive victories in the Boylesports.com International in 1997 and 1998 for the late David Nicholson. The Relkino gelding went on to complete his hat-trick in 1999, when under the care of Nicholson’s former assistant Alan King, and now has a race named after him on the same day as the Boylesports.com International .

Adrian Maguire announced his retirement at the end of October in 2002, when a neck injury was deemed too dangerous for him to continue riding. Maguire, now a trainer in Ireland, had two successes in the Boylesports.com International. The first came on the Mark Tompkins-trained Halkopous in 1992 and, six years later, he followed up when partnering Relkeel to the second leg of that horse’s magnificent hat-trick.

The Nicky Henderson-trained Geos won the Boylesports.com International in 2000, when beating Barton by six lengths, and was subsequently successful in Kempton’s Christmas Hurdle later in the same month and finished fourth to Hors La Loi III in the 2002 Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Prestbury Park.

Geos filled the same position in the 2003 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham’s National Hunt Festival, having three months earlier finished a creditable two-length third to the Philip Hobbs-trained Rooster Booster in the Boylesports.com International.

Rooster Booster also lined-up at the 2003 Festival, and took the hurdling crown, the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle. His jockey, Richard Johnson, is the most successful current rider in the Boylesports.com International, while Jamie Osborne and Andy Turnell, now trainers, have also had three victories in the race.

Rooster Booster returned to Prestbury Park for the next two renewals of the Boylesports.com International, running a close fifth behind the Paul Nicholls-trained Rigmarole in 2003 and fourth to Back In Front a year later.

Edward O’Grady’s Back In Front - the second Irish-trained winner of the race after the Jim Bolger-trained Condor Pan in 1988 - was a four-length winner, under Davy Russell, from subsequent Ladbrokes World Hurdle scorer and Order Of Merit hero Inglis Drever.

Harchibald made it two winners in two years for the Irish with a classy performance last year. Noel Meade’s star hurdler travelled brilliantly under Paul Carberry, and despite finding trouble approaching the last flight, picked up in tremendous style to be the decisive winner from Intersky Falcon.

THE BOYLESPORTS.COM INTERNATIONAL FACTS & FIGURES

* The Boylesports.com International was first run in 1963 when Scottish Memories was successful.

* Up until 1977, it was known as the Cheltenham Trial Hurdle. It was renamed in 1977 to reflect Bula’s successes at Cheltenham, including the Champion Hurdle in 1971 and 1972. He also won a division of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 1970 and finished third in the 1975 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Boylepsorts sponsor the Boylesports.com International for the first time in 2006.

* Bula won the race subsequently named in his honour in 1972, the same year as his second Champion Hurdle victory.

* Six horses in total have won both the Boylesports.com International and the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle:

HORSE INTERNATIONAL CHAMPION
Magic Court 1964 1964
Salmon Spray 1965 1966
Bula 1972 1972
Comedy Of Errors 1973, 1974 1973, 1975
Sea Pigeon 1975 1980, 1981
Rooster Booster 2002 2003

* Salmon Spray, Comedy Of Errors (1974 success) and Rooster Booster are the three horses to win the two contests in the same season.

* The shortest-priced winner of the Boylesports.com International has been Comedy Of Errors (1973) at 2/5.

* Solway Sands (1968) provided the biggest shock in the history of the contest when winning at 33/1 in 1968.

* Overall, favourites have a fair record with 16 wins in 38 runnings (over 40%).

* The Boylesports.com International is a good race for multiple winners, with Comedy Of Errors (1973, 1974) and Large Action (1994 and 1996) both winning the race twice.

* In addition, Bird’s Nest (1977, 1978, 1980) and Relkeel (1997, 1998 and 1999) were both triumphant three times.

* Bob Turnell was the most successful trainer in the race’s history. In addition to winning three times with Bird’s Nest (1977, 1978, 1980), he also saddled Salmon Spray (1965).

* Among current trainers, Oliver Sherwood leads the way with three wins, having scored with Large Action twice (1994 & 1996) and Cruising Altitude (1989). Martin Pipe sent out two winners with Corporal Clinger (1985) and Valiramix (2001).

* Andy Turnell, Jamie Osborne and Richard Johnson are the winning-most jockeys, each recording three victories.

ROLL OF HONOUR FOR THE BOYLESPORTS.COM INTERNATIONAL

YEAR HORSE AGE/WEIGHT TRAINER JOCKEY SP RAN
2005 Harchibald 6-11-08 Noel Meade IRE Paul Carberry 10/11f 9
2004 Back In Front 7-11-08 Edward O’Grady IRE Davy Russell 5/2f 7
2003 Rigmarole 5-11-04 Paul Nicholls Robert Thornton 25/1 7
2002 Rooster Booster 8-11-04 Philip Hobbs Richard Johnson 11/8f 9
2001* Valiramix 5-11-04 Martin Pipe Tony McCoy 1/2f 4
2000 Geos 5-11-04 Nicky Henderson Mick Fitzgerald 14/1 8
1999 Relkeel 10-11-08 Alan King Richard Johnson 13/2 7
1998 Relkeel 9-11-08 David Nicholson Adrian Maguire 8/1 5
1997 Relkeel 8-11-00 David Nicholson Richard Johnson 8/1 8
1996 Large Action 8-11-08 Oliver Sherwood Jamie Osborne 5/4f 7
1995 Abandoned
1994 Large Action 6-11-04 Oliver Sherwood Jamie Osborne 8/11f 8
1993 Staunch Friend 5-11-08 Mark Tompkins Declan Murphy 6/1 7
1992 Halkopous 6-11-02 Mark Tompkins Adrian Maguire 8/1 6
1991 Royal Derbi 6-11-08 Neville Callaghan Declan Murphy 9/2 5
1990 Abandoned
1989 Cruising Altitude 6-11-04 Oliver Sherwood Jamie Osborne 8/11f 8
1988 Condor Pan 5-11-02 Jim Bolger IRE Charlie Swan 12/1 8
1987 Pat’s Jester 4-11-02 Dick Allan Peter Niven 11/2 8
1986 Floyd 6-11-02 David Elsworth Colin Brown 7/2 8
1985 Corporal Clinger 6-11-02 Martin Pipe Paul Leach 20/1 9
1984 Browne’s Gazette 6-11-04 Monica Dickinson Mr Ronnie Beggan 7/2 5
1983 Amarach 5-11-06 Roger Fisher Jimmy Duggan 7/2jf 9
1982 Ekbalco 6-11-10 Roger Fisher Jonjo O’Neill 2/1jf 5
1981 Abandoned
1980 Bird’s Nest 10-11-06 Andy Turnell Andy Turnell 5/2f 7
1979 Celtic Ryde 4-11-03 Peter Cundell Martin O’Halloran 11/4 5
1978 Bird’s Nest 8-11-06 Bob Turnell Andy Turnell Evensf 5
1977 Bird’s Nest 7-11-06 Bob Turnell Andy Turnell 11/4 10
1976 Abandoned
1975 Sea Pigeon 5-11-02 Gordon Richards Jonjo O’Neill 5/1 7
1974 Comedy Of Errors 7-11-10 Fred Rimell Ken White 6/4 4
1973 Comedy Of Errors 6-11-12 Fred Rimell Bill Smith 2/5f 5
1972 Bula 7-11-12 Fred Winter Paul Kelleway 8/13f 8
1971 Canasta Lad 5-11-08 Peter Bailey Jeff King 5/1 8
1970 Pendil 5-11-08 Fred Winter Paul Kelleway 7/2 6
1969 Celtic Gold 7-12-01 Arthur Stephenson Stan Murphy 9/2 7
1968 Solway Sands 4-11-06 J McMurchie Brian Fletcher 33/1 7
1967 Abandoned
1966 Sempervivum 8-11-11 Fulke Walwyn Willie Robinson 8/11f 4
1965 Salmon Spray 7-12-01 Bob Turnell Johnny Haine 3/1 5
1964 Magic Court 6-12-01 Tommy Robson Pat McCarron 4/7f 6
1963 Scottish Memories 9-11-11 A Thomas C Finnegan 6/4f 7

* run at Newbury