O'Connor and miracle horse take Irish Gold Cup by storm
A horse which was at death’s door at last year’s Cheltenham National Hunt festival sprung back to life in the best way possible by handing Galway jockey Derek O’Connor his first ever Grade One winner in the Unibet Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown last Sunday.
Edwulf, the 33/1 rank outsider of the ten-runner field, belied his odds under a superbly patient ride from O’Connor to overhaul Outlander on the run to the line in the grief-stricken €200,000 feature event of the new two-day Dublin Festival.
It was an emotional triumph for connections as Edwulf was left fighting for its life after collapsing from oxygen debt up the final hill in last year’s National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham. Racecourse vets battled for over an hour to save the nine-year-old before the horse eventually staggered to its feet.
Though he recovered sufficiently to return to Ireland a few days later, the prospect of Edwulf ever making it back to the racetrack appeared remote never mind ending up winning arguably the most prestigious prize on the Irish chasing calendar.
O’Connor was also in the plate at Cheltenham in 2017 and he vividly recalls the harrowing scenes after Edwulf fell to the turf. “He lost all power, lost his sight and was in an extremely distressed state. It’s a miracle that the vets were able to save him. He’s an incredible horse . . . he had galloped himself into exhaustion.”
Full coverage in this week's Connacht Tribune