Tipperary jockey Rachael Blackmore steers Cheltenham-bound Shantreusse to victory in Clonmel

Above: Mark and Claire O’Connor present the trophy to winning owner Tony Head and friends following the success of Shantreusse in the Surehaul Mercedes Benz Grade 3 Novice Hurdle at Clonmel Races last Thursday. Willie Lawrence, Surehaul, makes a presentation to the successful jockey Rachael Blackmore while trainer Henry de Bromhead receives a memento from Mary and Donal O’Connor

Clonmel’s Grade 3 Surehaul Mercedes Benz Novice Hurdle has been won by a number of good stayers over the years and Henry de Bromhead’s Shantreusse, with Killenaule jockey Rachael Blackmore in the saddle, looked a worthy addition to the roll of honour when winning at Powerstown Park last Thursday.
The six-year-old now heads to Cheltenham for the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle. Formerly trained in Goolds Cross, near Cashel by Sam Curling, who won a bumper with him over the same course last April, Shantreusse was shaken up to lead before the last and got the better of long-time leader Eye Van by five lengths.
De Bromhead said of Shantreusse “he’s obviously a real stayer and loves that heavy ground. He jumps great and Rachael was brilliant on him – he’s a real chaser in the making. It turned into a bit of a sprint and I thought we were going to struggle but suddenly he had loads left jumping the last. He’s really exciting.
“That’s his owner Tony Head’s first Grade 3 winner and I’d said if he ran well in it, we’d go for the Albert Bartlett. It’s a good prep for it and the lads here say the flights are already booked!”

Above: Waterford-based trainer Henry de Bromhead

Englishman Head recently retired and is now living in Phoenix, Arizona.
Sam Curling, who has about 70 horses in his yard, nearly 60 of which are point-to-pointers and young horses, also got in on the action with success through Enduring Love in the 0-102 handicap chase. Denis O’Regan had to sit tight when his mount got it all wrong at the final fence, but Enduring Love recovered to score by two and-a-half lengths.
Curling, son of the famed equestrian artist Peter, said “he’s a big strong horse who handles the ground well.” Sam has built up a good reputation for producing some of the stars of the future and was understandably proud of Shantreusse’s performance, commenting “I’m delighted he’s gone on from winning his bumper for me and he’ll be a lovely chaser.”
Punters got their day off to a good start, thanks to the Willie Mullins-trained odds-on favourite Hors Piste, who clicked at the second time of asking on Irish soil in the Surehaul Race Day Mares Maiden Hurdle. Having been narrowly denied at Tramore on New Year’s Day, the French import put that experience to good use with a decisive 16 length win under Paul Townend.
The jockey reported “she raced more professionally today after being a shade keen at Tramore and the stronger gallop suited her. She jumps really well and was quick and accurate and more sure of herself today.
“She’s smart and if she was to run in the mares novice hurdle at Cheltenham, she’ll go straight there but we’ll see what that has taken out of her first.”
Owning handler Joseph O’Brien got his name on the scoresheet via market leader Gracchus De Balme, who was ridden to success in the Derrygrath Maiden Hurdle by his cousin JJ Slevin.
The O’Connor family, who run the very successful Surehaul business on the outskirts of Clonmel, specialising in new and quality used vans and trucks and their associated service, repairs, maintenance and CVRT certs, are now in their 14th year of sponsoring the Grade 3 event at this fixture.
Unfortunately the race was transferred to Punchestown and Navan in 2020 and 2021 due to Clonmel races being abandoned but Donal and Mary O’Connor, their son Mark and his wife Claire and the company’s sales manager Willie Lawrence from Golden were delighted to see so many of their customers availing of the complimentary tickets and enjoying the day back at Powerstown Park.
An enthusiastic group of Transition Year students and their teachers from Clonmel’s Presentation Secondary School were also on hand to get a better understanding of racehorses and horse racing as part of their science course, in conjunction with Agri-Aware. They cheered Rachael Blackmore home in the feature event and were thrilled when Rachael spoke to them afterwards and stood in for a photo.
The next race meeting in Clonmel takes place next Thursday, March 3, with the first race at 2.20pm.

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