Ireland seized the initiative in the Racing League as Tosen Wish and Gulliver gave the team a double on the final night of the competition at Southwell.
Tosen Wish (6-1) finished with a real flourish for jockey Danny Sheehy trainer Ado McGuinness in the William Hill Epic Boost Racing League Race 38 Handicap to deny the game Cabinet Of Clowns by a head and edge Ireland ahead of Wales & The West.
Gulliver then stepped up for the Ireland side in the William Hill Bet In-Running Racing League Race 39 Handicap, with Ben Curtis displaying maximum confidence on the David O’Meara-trained runner.
Delivered with a perfectly-timed challenge, Gulliver came home two and a half lengths in front, with Hierarchy faring best for Wales & The West in fourth.
Wales & The West started the evening in front but the two victories and two seconds via Half Nutz and Faster Bee in the first two races saw Ireland in control with three events to run in the competition.
Ireland manager Kevin Blake said: “I love Gulliver and he’s been such a Saturday horse for so long.
“He’s slipped right down the ratings, but I knew he might be getting sweetened up because David O’Meara rang me more than a week ago to say I really would like to run Gulliver. Dave wouldn’t be a regular at Southwell now would he.
“He missed the kick and didn’t seem to be travelling well early, but they must have gone hard because he came up in hand and ultimately won well. It’s not over but we’re going all right.”
Jim Goldie and Paul Mulrennan made sure Scotland finished the competition in style, recording a double with Yaaser (5-1) and Sir Chauvelin (22-1).
Yaaser won the William Hill Enhanced Odds Every Day Racing League Race 37 Handicap and Jim Goldie said: “He got a nice break and came across and Paul was very cool and calm. He was patient and the gap came and the horse picked up really well.
“He’s been placed in two Racing League races before and the owners have supported it well, so I’m delighted for them.”
The Richard Hannon-trained Commander Crouch landed the opening William Hill Pick Your Places Racing League Race 36 Nursery Handicap for the London & The South team, with Sean Levey steering the 5-1 shot to a neck success.
“It was impressive, but I thought he could have done a little bit better,” said Levey, with the winning team having deployed a joker card to good effect.
“He’s still inexperienced and through greenness he hung all the way up the straight there and I was touch or go whether he was going to give it away, but he kept his head in-front.
“We were happy to come here today because albeit we had good weather last week, the ground has been coming up all ways. At the moment it is coming up more soft when he’s wanting it good and this is the first time he has got a consistent surface.
“We’re good with two-year-olds and hopefully he will keep improving.”
