Rookie jockey Linehan hoping patience will reap dividends after Doncaster win

HOW fitting that a record-breaking year at Doncaster should end with eyecatching big race wins for Maurice Linehan and Killian Moore, two young jockeys with very promising futures ahead of them in 2013.

Both overcame seemingly hopeless positions to win their respective races on the aptly-named Storm Survivor and Handtheprizeover in front of a rain-soaked 6,000 crowd that took the total number of spectators at the Town Moor track beyond the 220,000 mark for the calendar year.

It is the best overall attendance, said managing director Mark Spincer, since the racecourse reopened in 2007 following a major redevelopment which also enabled the main grandstand to host 9,000 people for Christmas parties this month.

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“Any growth in this economic climate is good news,” said Spincer, who hopes that Doncaster will eclipse the 220,00 benchmark next year because the track is due, weather permitting, to stage an additional three fixtures.

Given the showers that were blowing across the South Yorkshire track, and the testing conditions for horses, the JP McManus-owned Storm Survivor was an appropriate winner of The Bet at bluesq.com Handicap Hurdle – the day’s feature.

Fifth turning into the home straight, the Jonjo O’Neill-trained runner found a second wind in this three-mile test and passed the pacesetting Barafundle with ease. Linehan, 22, appeared to misjudge the location of the winning post, though he said that the six-year-old bay gelding needs “treating with kid gloves” and had plenty in hand.

His 20th career winner, the conditional rider’s weight allowance is now reduced to 5lb – a fine achievement for a County Cork native who telephoned O’Neill on the spur of the moment to see if there were any job opportunities.

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Linehan’s confidence is matched by his riding; he was simply brilliant 12 months ago when winning the Devon Marathon on Arbor Supreme before riding Palace Jester to a dead-heat win on Welsh National day at Chepstow 12 months ago.

He knows that he will have to bide his time, but says that he is just grateful to be serving an apprenticeship at the O’Neill stable where he can benefit from the wisdom of 17-times champion jockey AP McCoy and Richie McLernon, runner-up in this year’s National on Sunnyhill Boy.

Asked to name the best advice that he had received from McCoy, Linehan told the Yorkshire Post: “‘Keep your head down and keep working hard’ and I intend to ride both.”

As for the prestige of wearing the iconic green and gold McManus silks, the jockey said: “To ride winners in them is just a dream – and I haven’t woken up yet.”

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A potential rival to Linehan is the aforementioned Moore whose 21st birthday celebrations today will have been boosted by Handtheprizeover’s tenacious win in the Blue Square Handicap Chase.

Despite running off a career-high handicap mark, he made a decisive move on the home turn before Moore appeared to send out distress signals at the second last as he looked over his right shoulder to check on the chasing pack.

Over the last and it seemed inevitable that Moore’s mount would be overhauled by Fill The Power who was finishing with a flourish – victory would have been a tonic for Bingley trainer Sue Smith’s husband Harvey, the showjumping legend, on his 74th birthday.

Yet the presence of Fill The Power galvanised the Ben Case-trained Handtheprizeover when it mattered most of all deep inside the final furlong.

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“He’s a nice horse and should win again,” said Moore, who is attached to the yard of lawyer-cum-trainer Graeme McPherson and who received a two-day ban for whip overuse.

“I probably went a bit too soon, but I’ll learn from it.”

The meeting saw in-form Tom Scudamore at his best aboard the Steve Gollings-trained Conquisto in the two-mile novice chase. The horse’s first run over the larger obstacles, he was the most sure-footed of the six contenders – Pere Blanc deposited Denis O’Regan ingloriously onto the turf at the first while Alan King’s highly-rated Vendor, third in the Fred Winter Juvenile Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, jumped poorly.

The Fred Winter is a possible target for Cockney Sparrow who was a convincing winner of the Help For Heroes Maiden Hurdle for Malton trainer John Quinn.

A fair performer on the Flat for Derby-winning trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam, she is likely to have one more run next month before Cheltenham.

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Quinn also reported Countrywide Flame to be on track for the Champion Hurdle, despite finishing a slightly disappointing fourth in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton.

“The race wasn’t run to suit, but there are plenty of other days to come,” reported the handler.

Given the success of Ryedale stables in 2012, it was not a huge surprise when Quinn’s near neighbour Malcolm Jefferson landed the finale – the last race of a momentous racing year in Yorkshire – with Renoyr, who was ridden to excellent effect by Harry Haynes.

He has enjoyed a breakthrough year – he rode Jefferson’s Attaglance to victory at the Cheltenham and Aintree Festivals and appears to have made a successful transition to the senior ranks after losing his conditional rider’s claim.

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However, Haynes, an earnest young man who runs many miles each day to hone his fitness, knows that his task, and that of most jockeys, is made more difficult by the peerless horsemanship of great friends Ruby Walsh and AP McCoy, who were seen to maximum effect at the weekend.

A day after his amazing Lexus Chase win on Tidal Bay when Walsh was described as “the Pele of racing” after squeezing between two champion horses – Flemenstar and First Lieutenant – to steal Ireland’s premier Grade One race on the line, the jockey partnered Hurricane Fly to a 13th Grade One triumph in the Istabraq Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown.

The 2011 Champion Hurdle hero is now favourite to regain his crown next March, with delighted trainer Willie Mullins saying after this imposing seven-length triumph: “He was easier to lead around the ring beforehand and Ruby said he settled beautifully. If we get him back to Cheltenham in the same form as he is in now, he’ll have a very good chance.”

In another example of Walsh’s sportsmanship, he allowed the trainer’s son Patrick to ride Zuzka to victory in the Mares Hurdle.

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It was a landmark 73rd win in the calendar year for Mullins jnr, enabling him to break a longstanding record set by Billy Parkinson in 1915.

Back at Newbury, Taquin Du Seuil found the quickest route through desperately muddy ground to give McCoy his fourth Challow Novices’ Hurdle in 11 years. This race has been won previously by the likes of Denman, Diamond Harry and Bindaree, with the O’Neill-trained victor set to be rested until the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

As Maurice Linehan said after watching Taquin Du Seuil’s win on TV from the Doncaster weighing room: “If you can’t learn from watching AP and Ruby, you shouldn’t be riding.”

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