O’Neill on course for titles treble

BARRY O’NEILL is in a strong position to retain his national point-to-point riders’ title with just one weekend to go, and in the past week he completed a rare double by winning his first Northern regional title and his second Eastern regional crown.

He leads Derek O’Connor by 56 to 47 with just three possible days racing left next weekend at Kinsale and Ballingarry.

He was a clearcut winner of the Eastern title with 27 successes, ten clear of Rob James, with the injured Jamie Codd third on 15.

He clinched his first Northern crown at Portrush on Saturday with a final winner giving him a total of 16, three ahead of Codd and Mark O’Hare.

Barry had been second in the North for the previous two seasons and he now becomes only the third man to complete the North-East double, matching Jamie Codd who did it in 2008, ‘11 and ‘14, and now trainer Tony Martin who was the first to do it in 1995.

The national trainers’ title battle is very tight, with Colin Bowe leading Donnchadh Doyle by 31 to 18 going into the final weekend. The two of them shared the title in 2015 and Bowe has won it outright on four other occasions.

Seán O’Keeffe from Taghmon leads the Novice riders’ title race by eleven to nine for Shane Fitzgerald, the Cork-born jockey who works with Michael Goff at his Clondaw, Ferns, stables.

All the winners will be presented with their championship trophies at the 39th Irish Field point-to-point awards at the Clayton Whites Hotel in Wexford on Saturday, June 9. Tickets for the function can be booked on the p2p. ie website.

Barry O’Neill’s winner at Portrush came in the opening four-year-old maiden on Colin Bowe’s Port Stanley (by Papal Bull), out battling Donnchadh Doyle’s debutant, Falco Blitz.

Two David Christie horses fought out the open race, with Luke Murphy (Inch) getting home on Sabremont, edging out O’Neill on Vinnie Luck.

Aaron Sinnott from Enniscorthy had his fourth career win and second of the season on Aonghus Song for Galway trainer Gerard Kyne in the novice riders’ race.

There was a massive 120 runners on a ninerace card at the North Kerry Hunt meeting at Tralee on Saturday.

Donnchadh Doyle had a double in the four-year-old maidens - Silent Assistant (by Sans Frontieres) under James Walsh took advantage of a double fall at the last to win Division 1, and Rob James scored by a head in Division 2 on First Lord De Cuet (by Lord Du Sud) in a driving finish.

At Inchydoney in Cork on Sunday, Barry O’Neill and Colin Bowe combined to win the four-year-old maiden with Paxman (by Jeremy) by three lengths from stable mate, Some Detail. Derek O’Connor only had one winner and failed to close the gap on the champion.

Bowe made it a double in the five-year-old geldings’ maiden with Legend of Zorro (by Touch of Land) under Rob James, the horse owned by the estate of the late William Codd. Harley Dunne was second on Seán Thomas Doyle’s Native Getaway.

The season ends next weekend.

They race at Kinsale on Saturday and Sunday, and at Ballingarry on Sunday and Monday.