Michael O’Leary hoping to open new Czech route to steeplechase success with Coko Beach

It has an airport, but the Czech town of Pardubice probably hasn’t registered too highly on Michael O’Leary’s radar up to now. That could change on Sunday when the Ryanair boss’s hope Coko Beach lines up for one of the world’s great steeplechase tests.
The four and a quarter mile Velka Pardubicka, a cross-country test also known as the Grand Pardubice Chase, and containing the famous ‘Taxis’ obstacle, will be staged for the 134th time at 3.0pm Irish time.
Another Irish hope in the 16-strong field is John McConnell’s Streets Of Doyen, although much of the focus will be on Coko Beach and jockey Keith Donoghue who carries O’Leary’s famed Gigginstown Stud silks.
Those colours have been carried to success in most high-profile steeplechase prizes, including three times in the Aintree Grand National and twice in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Success in the Czech Republic’s most famous race, though, will be a novel accomplishment all-round.
Coko Beach is an accomplished performer over fences closer to home with victories in last season’s Troytown and the 2021 Thyestes. He won over Punchestown’s cross-country test last season before finishing 11th in the Grand National.
Gordon Elliott’s grey stalwart is rated an 11-4 shot by some firms to record a first Irish success. The local favourite is Godfrey. The English runner It’s A Snip won the arduous test in 1995.
In comparison, it’s a relatively ordinary weekend at home for O’Leary’s team with a single runner at Fairyhouse on Saturday and in Cork 24 hours later. Both Gigginstown hopes, Bleu De Vassy and Kish Bank, are likely to start favourite.
The domestic focus is on the flat, with Naas hosting its “Oktoberfest” weekend. The prestigious Birdcatcher Nursery takes place on Saturday, while Sunday’s €120,000 feature is the EBF auction series final.
There would be no more popular big-race winner than veteran trainer Kevin Prendergast who saddles his own colt, the Down Royal winner Iowntheball. Prendergast (92) will hope Iowntheball can upset official figures as his 82-rated contender has a lot to find with Joseph O’Brien’s pair Dignam and Sigh No More.
Dignam is back to seven furlongs having missed the frame in a nine-furlong Group Three at Chantilly last time. He should also relish the prospect of better ground conditions.
Sunday’s other six-figure pot is the two-mile Colm White Handicap where Aidan O’Brien has a trio of hopefuls at both ends of the weight scales.
Only Falcon Eight is above the three-year-old pair Chemistry and Portland Place at the top of the handicap. Chemistry found only his stable companion Fighter too good at last month’s Irish Champions Festival and is Wayne Lordan’s pick.
Down at the bottom is the only other three-year-old in the race, Ephesus, who is 5lbs “wrong” at the weights, although that is offset by Wayne Hassett’s claim. Ephesus blew his chance with a slow break on his last start at Galway and could be worth another chance, with The Equator’s recent Cesarewitch victory fresh in the memory as a reminder of O’Brien’s fondness for rich handicap prizes.
Top cross-channel rider James Doyle goes to Naas on Sunday for a single spin on Willie Mullins’s Lope De Lilas in the Listed Bluebell Stakes. Bought by Doyle’s Wathnan Racing employers after an impressive maiden success, Lope De Lilas failed to fire in the Irish Oaks and hasn’t been seen since.
Johnny Murtagh’s Siege Of Troy is interesting, back after a placed effort in the US last time, although a first-time hood could ultimately prove key to Dermot Weld’s Romzina emerging on top. She ruined her chance at Galway last time by racing too freely in the early stages.