BRUREE’S Enda Bolger enhanced his remarkable record in the PP Hogan Memorial Cross Country Chase over the banks’ course (28 obstacles) at Punchestown on Sunday, as Stealthy Tom scored a convincing victory.
Bolger was winning the race for the sixth year running, and it was his 12th success in all.
With Simon Torrens riding in the JP McManus colours, the 8/1 chance led over the final obstacle to beat the game 13-year-old and 7/2 favourite Singing Banjo. “He got a lovely ride from Simon and he was nice and patient on him. He’s only seven so he’s going to be a nice horse for this game for the future,” commented Bolger.
“I was happy I had him in today because the other two boys underperformed. He’s found his niche so we’ll stick with these with him.”
On the possibility of a run for Stealthy Tom at next month’s Cheltenham Festival, the trainer told irishracing.com: “We’ll see, I’ll talk to the boss and see what they want to do – whether the experience would do him good.
“Definitely all roads will lead to the La Touche with him and he would go on nicer ground as well which is a plus for the spring meeting.
“Cheltenham is a pretty hot race and we have to see where Galvin is going to appear as well. We’re only rated 105 but he excels over those.
“He hadn’t run for a while so we’ll see how he comes out of this and make a decision. The entries don’t close for a couple of weeks anyway. He’d be the only one for it.”
