Ask D’Man followed in the footsteps of his stablemate Vaucelet by landing the Champion Novice Hunter Chase at Stratford on Friday evening under a masterful Barry O’Neill.
The eight-year-old was sent off as an easy-to-back 15/2 shot for the 3m 3 1/2f contest on the back of finishing placed in two winners’ hunter chases at Down Royal and Tramore, and the Wexford rider had his mount anchored in rear throughout.
Supporters of the four-time point-to-point winner would certainly not have enjoyed a stress-free journey through the race, with Ask D’Man dropping a couple of lengths adrift of the main pack after fence eight, with O’Neill then having to administer a reminder at fence 11 as the well-backed Cheltenham runner-up Go Go Geronimo took the field along at a good tempo.
The shorter-priced Irish challenger, Emmet Mullins’ It’s On The Line was always racing in snatches and he was one of the first horses beaten when Patrick Mullins raised the white flag and pulled-up with four fences to jump.
At the same time, victory for Ask D’Man may not have seemed likely but the soon to be crowned six-time national champion steadily crept into contention, to only become a likely threat racing off the home bend.
Whilst he was not foot-perfect at the final fence, David Christie’s Ask gelding finished best of all to snatch victory in the dying strides and prevail by a neck.
“He hated that ground the whole way,” Christie admitted after saddling the winner of the John Corbet Cup for the second year in a row.
“I knew after a couple of furlongs that we were in trouble. Barry and myself walked the track and we thought that Vaucelet would go on it but that for this horse it might be on the quick side for him.
“He hasn’t travelled but he has jumped and that has kept him in it really and I would say they have gone too fast.
“Barry was hanging on into them and at about third last we began to think that we might get into this and with Barry O’Neill when you are champion point-to-point rider in Ireland you are something. I think he showed everything there why he has been champion for the last five or six years.”
