And finally a win for the Irish with Stumptown!
The #135 refers to the number of times the race has been run, not the number of times the Irish have tried to win it!
They probably ran out of Guiness around 5pm in Pardubice and about an hour after that in Prague as the large Irish contingent who attend this race on an annual basis have at last got something to cheer about.
Trained by Gavin Cromwell and set for this race some time back, the plans all worked out although jockey Keith Donoghue had some anxious moments. At Taxis the horse tried to shake him off with a wild landing and then again on jumps 8 and 9 which resulted in him having to race from the rear but with some 22 jumps still to go Donoghue settled them in that position until about 10 jumps out when they started to move forward and they were in a good position coming into the straight. At the water jump High In The Sky with top jockey Jan Faltejsek was still in front but Stumptown had gas in the tank and overtook him to finish a couple of lengths in front. Caryjape was the third home.
And who knows they could be back next year!
We recommend the You Tube film of the race – fabulous stuff.
