Darren hits the mark at Dundalk

HIT The Bid went one better than he did last year when landing the €63,500 Group 3 Al Basti Equiworld Mercury Stakes for trainer Darren Bunyan at Dundalk on Friday night.

The win came with a fascinating back story; more on that shortly. Elsewhere on the card, trainer Joseph O’Brien won two races and took his Dundalk tally in 2018 to 23, and apprentice jockey Tom Madden rode a treble, the first three-timer of his young career and the first time that he’d ridden more than one winner on a card.

But back to Hit The Bid, who was ridden to victory tonight by Chris Hayes. He has now won two Group 3 races and a Listed contest which, along with successful forays to Meydan in Dubai, has taken his career earnings to nearly €300,000. Meydan is in the plan again for the Straight To Victory Syndicate-owned four-year-old and, when he goes, Darren’s wife, Gillian, will be going with him.

Gillian and Hit The Bid have struck up a relationship which Darren describes as “remarkable and like nothing I’ve seen before in my time in racing’. It is like they are on a shared wavelength. Others may have to chase him round the field to get him to come in for the evening but Gillian only has to stand at the gate and he’ll come straight across. That’s the kind of thing that happens.

“A horse’s mindset is so important in getting the best out of them,’ said Darren. There is a whole book that could be written on tonight’s big-race winner.

Tom Madden’s first winner came on Red Charmer (4/1f) in the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Apprentice Claiming Race. Trained by Marjorie Fife in Yorkshire, the winner jumped out, soon had a clear lead and never looked like being caught.

Winning owner, the trainer’s son Tom, said: “That was an enterprising ride. The prize-money is very good here – we might keep coming back!’

Tom’s double continued with Pulsating (12/1) in Division 1 of the Crowne Plaza Leading Jockey & Trainer Championship Handicap, who was running for the first time for trainer Conor O’Dwyer, and was completed when Jessica Harrington’s Echo Bay (5/1) got the better

Friday

Race 1 Annual Rock won in 28.71 for Paul Gallagher and Derry trainer William Mullan

Race 2 Fahrenheit Lee won in 21.63 for Barry Carr (Darkley)

Race 3 Local Broker won in 29.11 for Laurence & Brian Jones and Carrickmacross trainer Laurence Jones

Race 4 Heathfield Manor won in 21.50 for Paul Gallagher and Derry trainer William Mullan

Race 5 Domingo Street won in 28.98 for Ben Hughes and Navan agent Nalin Monerawela

Race 6 Beretta Puma won in 21.45 for owner/trainer Michael Kelly (Clogherhead)

Race 7 Morning Dream won in 29.05 for Colm Farrrelly (Hackballcross) Race 8 Jamaica Joey won in 21.74 for Richard Flanagan and Skerries trainer Marie Gilbert of a good tussle with Commander Won to land the Crowne Plaza Race & Stay Handicap that closed the card.

Commander Won’s trainer Dermot Anthony McLoughlin had earlier won the second division of the Crowne Plaza Leading Jockey & Trainer Championship Handicap with 25/1-chance Arlecchino’s Rock, ridden by Killian Leonard and owned, like Commander Won and Guanabara Bay, who also finished second on tonight’s card, by Sean Gallagher, whose good year at Dundalk continued with this success.

Joseph O’Brien’s double began in the card’s nursery handicap with Eagle Song (15/8f), who, just like he had done the previous Friday at Dundalk, registered a cosy success under apprentice rider Shane Crosse.

The double was completed via the lightly-raced King’s Field (4/1), who confirmed his upwardly-mobile profile is winning the €25,000 Book Your Christmas Party At Dundalk Handicap under Joseph’s brother, Donnacha.

The card’s six-furlong maiden was won in emphatic style by Tintoretto (11/2) who is trained by John Murphy and owned by his wife, Caroline.

The winning jockey was Shane Foley, who had partnered the same stable’s Brazos to victory in the €100,000 Irish Cesarewitch at Navan the previous Sunday. The stable is ending the season with a flourish.

Tonight’s headline sponsor, Dubai-based Al Basti Equiworld, is a leading distributor for the world’s leading suppliers of products for the equine industry. These include equine bedding, feed, supplements and veterinary medicines.

Their generosity extended to a best-turned-out award and, as with last week, provision of a free meal for each stable staff member with a runner on tonight’s card. Additional good news is that their sponsorship of the Mercury Stakes will continue in 2019.

Dundalk will race next on Friday October 26th when the feature race will be the €55,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Cooley Stakes, a Listed Race for fillies. It will be the fifth-successive week that Dundalk will have staged a race worth €50,000 on its Friday-night card.

Saturday

Race 1 Tyrur Riley won in 21.57 for Few-Scoops-Syndicate c/o Gerry Thorp (Killucan)

Race 2 Blackbird won in 29.45 for Colm Farrelly (Hackballcross)

Race 3 Peads Diathi won in 29.01 for Christy Nugent (Castleblaney) Race 4 Never Better Joe won in 21.44 for Peter Begley and Castleblayney trainer Catherine Kerr

Race 5 Pennys Marvel won in 29.19 for Kevin Commins (Ardee)

Race 6 Drumnafern Ciara won in 29.13 for Eugene F. Skeffington (Dungannon) Race 7 Shuttle Field won in 21.23 for George Gamble and agent James Murray (Newtownards)

Race 8 Camlin Pebbles won in 29.05 for Harry Brazier (Crumlin)

Race 9 Quivers Crystal won in 29.29 for Audrey Burney (Hamiltonsbawn)