Cheltenham: GAA legends Jimmy Barry Murphy and Mark Landers enjoy Cork jockeys' success

ANOTHER day of Cork dominance on Wednesday at Cheltenham with Paul Townend recording a double including the feature on the heavily-backed Energumene.

Later Darragh O'Keeffe rode his first-ever Cheltenham winner keeping the Cork conveyer belt of jockey victories ticking over.

That followed victories on the opening day for Twomend and Michael O'Sullivan (2), making it six wins from 14 races for Leeside jockeys.

O'Keeffe, from Doneraile, has been rising through the ranks since he emerged in his teens and delivered a big winner at 22-1 on Maskada.

I bumped into two Cork GAA legends Jimmy Barry-Murphy and Mark Landers who were Manager and Captain respectively when Cork won the All-Ireland hurling title in 1999.

Jimmy Barry Murphy told me he's been coming to Cheltenham for many years and made his Cheltenham debut in 1984 when he flew in for Gold Cup Day. JBM loves Cheltenham, particularly the opening two days which he feels are essentially the Olympics of national hunt racing.

Results have been punter-friendly this week and Barry-Murphy is looking forward to Gold Cup Day on Friday and in particular the Triumph Hurdle which is one of his favourite races at the festival.

Killeagh native Landers is a well-known owner-breeder as well as being a hurling figurehead. He was also instrumental in setting up the very popular Caman Racing Club which has been a terrific success and they enjoyed a memorable day in Tramore last year with a bumper victory that got a Cheltenham-like reception.

Landers loves Cheltenham but is equally keen on flat racing and he's enjoyed huge success at Dundalk with his Getaway Queen and at Galway with Dairerin.