No beating ambition…
There was some stellar fare on offer at Sunday lasts West Waterford Hunt point to point staged at Boulta Schooling Gallops near the village of Ballynoe.
Local rider 18yr old Brian Barry from Conna had a day that will long live in his memory as he partnered his initial points winner on board Burning Ambition (3-5) in the eight runner Open lightweight contest kindly sponsored by Kenneally Steel and O’Brien’s Saddlery.
Produced to lead by Barry on the run to two out the now 10yr old son of Scorpion was not to be denied and despite showing signs of idleness from the back of the last the dual hunter chase winner had enough in hand to last home by 3/4L from a staying on Westener Point (5/4-6/4) and John Ahern.
Previously under the care of Pierce Power for whom he won two hunter chases and five point to points, Burning Ambition is now part of Jimmy Mangan’s team and of this winner he said, “It was Jane who actually got this horse from his previous connections, and we decided to give him to Brian to tip away with in points, this is his game now and he will tip away in those Opens and hopefully Brian will have a bit of fun with him, to be fair he gave him a smashing ride never panicked”.
Brian Barry is the younger brother of weigh room veteran John Barry, and whilst this is his first points winner the younger Barry actually enjoyed his first career winner during the Listowel Harvest Festival meet scoring over the larger obstacles for trainer John Ryan.
Another rider recording her first winner of her career was 20yr old UCD veterinary student Emily Cody who steered Exit Eleven (evens) to a comprehensive 20L victory in the three runner winners of one contest.
Having hit the crossbar on his last two outings the 8yr old progeny of Woodpas assumed command after three out and from here the result was never in doubt in this Goffs and Glenview stud sponsored event with Exit Eleven coasting home to victory from the only other finisher Pennywell Girl (4/5-ev) and Pa King.
This winner, who is trained by Emily Cody’s mother Debbie, is owned by her breeder Joe Walsh and it is Walsh who takes up the story, “This lad has a rating of 116 on the track so we said we would come here and have a go, I am delighted for Emily as she works hard at it between her college work and she goes into Joseph O’Brien’s at weekends, she is a top class jockey and it’s great for her, we will sit down now and have a think about where we go next but I would think that maiden Hunter chase at Limerick over Christmas will be our next outing”.
Emily Cody, along with her mother Debbie, father Pat and younger brother Paddy were on last season’s hugely popular TV show Ireland’s Fittest Family, they performed admirably and went out at the eliminator stage mainly due to Pat suffering a hamstring injury which forced him out of action.
Racing got underway with The Beeches Stud and Winners Enclosure Pub sponsored 4yr old mare’s maiden for which eleven went to post. Two of the three bookmakers present took a bit of a hit here as the eventual winner Still Ciel found plenty of support into 7/4 from 3/1.
The daughter of Westener still had plenty to do two from home but when Tom Hamilton gave her the hurry up, she quickly reduced the deficit to be on terms with Sadie Hill (4-6) and Luke Murphy at the last, but when on the level this full sister to Skyace pulled away to score a shade snugly by 2.5L over the Co-Wexford raider.
The winner is bred/owned/ trained by Brendan Long from Danesfort in Co Kilkenny and his representative on the day Colin Tobin said “She is a very straightforward type with loads of ability, Tom gave her a great spin there to be fair, there is no great plan for her after today I will see what the boss wants to do next”.
“I can’t believe another horse just did that to my fellow” was the comment of Tom Keating after his well fancied Global Assembly went down by 15L in the Tattersalls Ireland sponsored 4yr old gelding’s maiden for which ten faced the starter.
Victory here went to the Mark Fahey trained Found A Fifty (3-6) the mount of Brian Lawless with the pairing creating a very favourable impression.
In front after three out the debutante progeny of Solskjaer (himself a half-brother to Yeats) began to put daylight between himself and the chasing pack and with spring-heeled leaps over the last two obstacles he pulled right away scoring by 15L from Global Assembly.
Successful trainer Mark Fahey was absent on the day as he was at Fairyhouse but his father Thomas was on hand to greet the winner and of him he said “I was a ball of nerves before the race, we knew we had a good one on our hands but we were afraid we might not have enough schooling done with him, but when he jumped the first two fine I couldn’t see us beaten and that kind of performance was not unexpected, we bred him ourselves and he is owned by my mother Maureen (Mark’s grandmother) so it is a family affair, sure look after that I would imagine he will be sold but we will enjoy today first”.
Disappointingly on the day just four runners fulfilled their engagement as far as the 5 and 6yr old geldings maiden went which was kindly sponsored by Kelkab and Dungans Daybreak Tallow.
Victory here went to the most experienced horse in the race Access Granted (6/4-7/4) who was scoring at the sixth time of asking.
Partnered by Barry Stone the 5yr old son of Presenting went into an early lead and subsequently was never headed. Both Milan Echo (4/5) and Shadows In The Sky (2-3) held live chances only to crash out at the second last and last obstacles respectively, the James Hannon ridden Champagne Gift (2-3) threw down a determined effort from the back of the last but just could not get by the winner, going down by a head.
Trained by Ian O’Donoghue and owned by Steven O’Connor the Master of the Ward Unions, of the winner O’Donoghue said “Keith rode him in a piece of work recently and he said to stick a pair of cheek pieces on him as he is lazy and was only doing the bare minimum and to be fair they worked on him there, we got this lad out of Harley Dunnes and I ran him too quick and he disappointed us but sure it turned out he was sick, from here we will go to The Folly in the new year for a winners’ race, all going well”.
Whilst James Hannon was out of luck in the geldings’ race he did go one place better in the McDonnell Bros and David Allen Engineering sponsored mares maiden where he teamed up with the Harry Kelly trained Hot As Pepper (5/2-5/4) to record a snug1.5L victory.
Hannon raced the daughter of Milan in a prominent position throughout and with the field very spread out from the third last home this contest quickly developed into a match between the eventual winner and the vastly more experienced Eightytwo Team (2-/9/4) and Liam Gilligan.
There was very little to separate the pairing going into the wings of the last and with both taking this ok it was hard to call. Despite showing signs of greenness it was Hot As Pepper who showed the greater resolve, going onto score by 1.5L, indicating that a bright future lays ahead for her.
Fethard trainer Harry Kelly was on hand to greet his winner and of her he said “I really fancied her here today on her homework, she will improve for it both physically and mentally, she has a fair old page now to be fair, I will talk to the owners to see where we go next but I would imagine she will be sold”.
The mare was bred by her part owner Chris Doyle from Pallas in Co Wexford and she is also part owned by professional rider Sean Flanagan (currently sidelined after a fall when schooling) who were both present on the day.
NEXT WEEKEND.....
Ballindenisk takes centre stage on Saturday, whilst both Lingstown and Corbeagh House go ahead on Sunday and again if it is your intention to travel don’t forget to register on p2p.ie.
RECORD EQUALLED....
Clonmel based lady rider and seven times lady riders champion Liz Lalor rode her record equalling 109th winner at Moig South on Sunday on board the David Christie trained On The Sod.
In taking this Lalor equalled the record of Helen Bryce Smith which has stood since 1980 and at 38 years old Lalor a mother of one is showing no signs of stopping and she will be further adding to her tally in the weeks and months ahead.