OF LAND AND SEA FOR HENNO AND MULLINS

OF LAND AND SEA FOR HENNO AND MULLINS

Ian Fortune

Paul Hennessy was at it again on Tuesday, sending out yet another impressive winner of the equine variety.

Hennessy has won everything worth winning in greyhound racing but in recent years he has also shown that he also very adept with a race horse.

Paul had a relatively quiet 2025, sending out five winners on the turf but he didn’t have to wait long to open his 2026 account Of Land And Sea creating quite a buzz at a very wet and gloomy Limerick on Tuesday afternoon.

Not only did the son of Crystal Ocean win the bumper at 14-1, seeing off a couple of fancied runners from big outfits, but the ride of Patrick Mullins was a little out of the ordinary.

The seventeen-time Irish champion amateur was at his very best, weaving onto the all-weather strip on the back straight between the hurdle wings. And the results were there for all to see with Of Land And Sea finishing full of running compared to his rivals in behind. He would eventually come home some nine lengths clear of Jury Time.

To add a cherry to the moment, the hurling mad Paul Hennessy would have taken great joy in leading home a field which contained a hot favourite in the form of Gillane, who is surely named after former Hurler of the Year and four time All-Star, Limerick hurler Aaron Gillane.

Speaking to Tom Weekes of irishracing.com, Hennessy said, “We keep a few greyhounds for the winning (Evegallahoo Racing) syndicate which is headed by Mike O'Riordan, and being local to here, it is great to win today.

“We bought this horse on Mags and Danny Mullins' recommendation and this is the lads' first horse with me.

"It worked out lovely and I remember Patrick's Daddy (Willie Mullins) doing the same (racing very wide) to win at Clonmel years ago, so they ended up railing the area off to stop him!

"It is very seldom I get to use Patrick and now almost all the Mullins have won races for me, including Danny, Fiona, David while Emmet, Willie and Tony have all trained winners for me. Tom is left but there's always time!"