BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
Next Thursday afternoon on January 25th, Thyestes Day takes place in Gowran Park, and as always a capacity crowd can be expected for one of the most prestigious days of the year.
This year, The Thyestes Chase celebrates it’s 70th anniversary since it was first run in 1954, and the race has produced an illustrious roll of honour with horses of the calibre of Arkle(1964) and Flyingbolt (1966) landing the spoils, both trained by Tom Dreaper, while in the Mid 2000s, two subsequent Aintree Grand National winners would emerge victorious courtesy of Hedgehunter(2004) and Numbersixvalverde(2005).
The Willie Mullins trained Carefully Selected landed last years feature in a thriller where a photo finish was required to decide the outcome, and that victory gave the Champion Trainer his 9th Thyestes triumph.
The Clossuton native will be expected to have a strong hand in this years feature, where he will be attempting to win the race for an unprecedented 10th time.
Willie’s 1st win in The Thyestes came in 2000 when Mickos Dream with Jason Titley landed the spoils, and further victories arrived courtesy Further victories followed courtesy of Hedgehunter under David Casey in 2004, before Homer Wells with Davy Condon onboard gave The Champion Trainer his Third Thyestes win in 2007.
From 2012 onwards, The Closutton native began to dominate as he trained the winner of The Gowran feature on 6 occassions between 2012 and 2023.
On His Own gave David Casey his third Thyestes victory in 2012, before repeating the feat two years later in 2014 with Champion jockey Paul Townend on board.
12 months later in 2015, Djakadam with Ruby Walsh onboard defied top weight of 11-10 in thick fog on Heavy Ground to run out a very impressive winner to give Willie his 6th Thyestes success.
Ruby and Willie combined for further Thyestes glory with Invitation Only in 2019, while 12 months later in 2020, Gowran native Danny Mullins was on board Total Recall to give his Uncle an 8th Thyestes Triumph.
Paul Townend was in the saddle as Carefully Selected denied Dunboyne in a photo finish last year, and as stable jockey he will surely be aboard one of the leading fancies for The Champion Trainer.
Willie Mullins (6) and Gordon Elliott(10) are responsible for 16 of the 26 entries, while other entries declared are The Ted Walsh trained Any Second Now who was twice placed in The Aintree Grand National(2021 and 2022) along with 2022 Thyestes winner Longhouse Poet.
Ted Walsh’s very first runner as a trainer was actually the winner of The Thyestes Chase in 1991 with Roc De Prince prevailing in a thrilling finish.
The supporting card on Thyestes Day is led by The Grade 2 Galmoy Hurdle that has produced a number of top class winners over the years.
Among the winners on the Roll of Honour list are 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War of Attrition who won the race in 2010, Twice Cheltenham Festival winner Presenting Percy who won in 2018 and 2019, while the Willie Mullins trained Benie Des Dieux won in 2020 having won The Mares Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2018.
Last years Galmoy Hurdle was won highly impressively by The Gordon Elliott trained Teahupoo, with Davy Russell having come out of temporary retirement to take over from the injury bound Jack Kennedy, and he is almost certain to line-up again this year having won The Hattons Grace Hurdle prior to running in Gowran Park last year.
Teahupoo won his second consecutive Hattons Grace Hurdle in early December following an epic finish, and he is a proven Gowran specialist having also won The Red Mills Hurdle in February 2022.
Elsewhere, the action commences with The Langtons Kilkenny Handicap Hurdle followed by The Connolly’s Red Mills Ladies Hurdle.
Also on the card, their is a Beginners Steeplechase sponsored by Daly Farrell Chartered Accountants in Friary Street, Kilkenny along with The Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle in which Gowran Man Jimmy Barcoe Trained Allez Kal to victory in 2019.
The Concluding Bumper will more than likely see Willie and Patrick Mullins have a strongly fancied contender.
Meanwhile, at the launch for The Thyestes meeting, the new state of the art weighing room facilities were officially opened by Willie Mullins along with his Mum Mrs Maureen Mullins,shareholder, and former Director of Gowran Park.
The large, invited attendance were treated to a show around of the facility from Chairman Joe Connolly and General Manager Eddie Scally, and Thyestes Day will be the first time the new weighing room facilities will be in official use.
Finally, a special moment next Thursday will be the parading of Hewick, The King George winner trained by John “Shark” Hanlon and that will bring the roof down with a raptorous recepetion following his memorable St. Stephens Day triumph in Kempton.
So much to look forward to next Thursday Afternoon, in what promises to be another wonderful day in one of the most prestigious days on the racing and local calendar.
