McCullagh bridges huge gap to land Irish Cesarewitch
Niall McCullagh on Puturhandstogether leads home the field in the The Friends Of The Curragh Irish Cesarewitch Photo: ©Lorraine O’Sullivan
56-year-old Carlow jockey Niall McCullagh was a hugely popular winner of the Irish Cesarewitch at the Curragh today on the Joseph O’Brien trained Puturhandstogether.
McCullagh had no ride in Europe’s most valuable handicap this morning but spotted a chance when he saw the Cheltenham Festival winner as the second reserve. The horse had only ran in Listowel last Thursday but as luck would have it, snuck into the race and McCullagh took it from there.
The weigh room veteran sent Puturhandstogether for home a furlong out and worked up enough of an advantage that he was able to hold off the fast finishing 66/1 shot Chally Chute, trained by Ross O’Sullivan.
McCullagh first won the Cesarewitch on the PJ Finn Marlion in 1989, and won it again for John Oxx five years later on Elupa.
His son Scott was also riding a Joseph O’Brien trained horse in the race and finished fifth on Dawn Rising.
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