Kovanis kickstarts afour-timer for Ger Quinn (below) at Portrush with adazzlingperformance under Noel McParlan Reports, pages 4-5
TESSE
QUINNTESSENTIAL
N
NFOCUS OHN HEGARTY
JO e The is lo
‘I had adream start to racehorse ownership and I’ve been hooked ever since’
‘While the focus is on youngsters it’s we don’t forget that many enjoy see older horses they become familiar w many seasons’ Page 2 owner of Winged Leader talks about ove affair with the sport Page 3
Luke Barry (x2)
Mark Bleahen Matt O’Connor (x2) Willie Browne
Flash Conroy
David Connors Tim Dennis (x2)
PeterVaughan
DerekO’Connor Straight to thePoint Form compasspointsnorth to Antrim afteropening weekends
THERE hasbeenracingin the north on the firsttwo weekends of the season and we have another fixture comingupinthe region at LoughanmoreonSaturday. Judgingbythe action at Portrush lastSaturdaythere’snodoubt Ger Quinnand Noel McParlanare the in-formhandler-rider team.They combinedfor three winners,and Ger hadfouronthe daywith Dara McGill alsogetting in on the act
Owner Philip McBurneyhas severalpromisingyoungsters in Quinn’sbaseathis Caherty stables in County Antrim.Onthe firstday of the new season ShabalkoD’Herm wasanimpressive four-year-old winner in his colours at Toomebridge.Another French-bred four-year-old, Kovanis,madea perfectstarttohis career with atenlength wininthe openingrace at Portrush Kovanis is ason of Tunis,aPolishbred horsewho wasa talented hurdler in France for Guillaume Macaire. He’s ayoung stallion, only ten, buthecaughtthe attention of point-to-pointfollowers last season as the sireofKeops DesBordes, a Donnchadh Doyle-trainedgelding who woningreat styleat LoughanmoreinApril.I thoughthe wasaverypromisinghorse who will be worth lookingout for on the track this season.
Ilikethe fact that Kovaniswas such adecisivewinner of amaiden inwhich top trainers Colin Bowe and Donnchadh Doylewereresponsible for the placedhorses
Colin’srunner Daydream Nation is aDoyen gelding producedbythe Lalor familyinTipperaryfromtheir well-known Carrigeenfamily. His dam CarrigeenLonicerawon a bumper and is closely relatedtothe Gold Cupwinner Minella Indo.
Thetwo bigWexfordstables went head to head in the five-year-old geldings maiden. TheBowe-trained newcomer Diligent Militiamadea winningdebutunder BarryO’Neill, beatingthe Doylehorse TsavoPark, who hadacouple of runs in the spring.
Diligent Militiaisahalf-brother to Authorised Speed, agoodbumper horsefor Gary Moore. He wasbestof the home team when fifth to Facile Vega in the Champion Bumper in 2022 and haswon three races over hurdles.
Another of the main Wexford nurseries gotoff the mark for the season when Denis Murphytook the four-year-old maiden at Loughrea with Un Sens ALaVie underJack Hendrick, who hadhis best season last year with 27 wins.The promising winner wasplacedatLoughanmore on his only startlastseason.
It wasgood to see the younger generation amongthe winners at Loughrea.HenryGoff,son of wellknown handler Mick,rodeMandalay Maggie to winthe mares’ maiden for Sean Osborne,and Ivan Ryan, a studentofagriculture, rode
‘Thiswas a firstpointto-point successfor former jockey ConorMaxwell, whoistraining in County Meath’
Look Dont Touch to take the novice riders’contestinthe coloursofhis father Kieran.
This wasafirstpoint-to-point successfor former jockeyConor Maxwell, who retired from ridingthis year and is nowtraining, mostlyfor the track, in County Meath.
Important to celebrate return of familiar names
I’mhopeful we canlookforward to some competitiveracing in theopen category this season, with recent recruits from the trackjoining the establishedhorses. While the main focus thesedaysisobviously on the youngsters,it’s importantwedon’t losesight of the fact that many followers of point-to-point racingenjoy seeing theolder horsesthey become familiar with over the courseofmany seasons
We could have done with afew morerunnersinthe open races at Portrush and Loughrea,which had
only fiveineach.However,it’sstill early days andboth winners putup good performances Winged Leader,one of the most popularhorses on the circuit,madea winningstarttothe season at Portrush.Defendingthe champion pointer title he wonlastyear,hewas producedinfineshape by David Christie and battledwelltoget the better of the StuartCrawford-trained Carnfunnock, who hadrace-fitness on his side since he wasinaction on the trackduringthe summer
Winged Leader is outearlier than lastseason when he didn’t make his firstappearance until the Ballindenisk meetingonthe first SundayinDecember. It took him awhile to find his best formand he didn’t manage to win until his fourth startofthe season at Farmacaffleytowards theend of February. After that he was unstoppable,reeling off nine wins in arow
Havingstarted so earlythis season itwill be interesting to see what sort of campaign David maps out. It’s probably fair to assume we’ll see plenty of him.He’snow the winner of
23 of his 32 starts in points and seems as goodasever.
Wonderful waytostart
On SundayI rode Wonderwall, a horsehavinghis firsttaste of pointing, to winatLoughrea.He’sa recentrecruit to SamCurling’s team and Iliked the wayheadapted Irodehim closetothe paceand we took it up just before the last. I didn’t have to be toohardonhim to beat twoexperiencedrivals,Er Dancer,who haswon sevenpoints, and Winged Leader’s stablemate Ramillies,who wonfourfromsix last season.
Wonderwall is an eight-year-old by Yeats. He wasaversatile horsein England,winninga bumper and a maiden hurdle for RichardSpencer and alsoran well on the Flat. More recently he waswith Peter and MichaelBowen andwas placed in four handicap hurdlesinthe first half of the season. He doesn’t have a huge amount of chasing experience butthat isn’t necessarily a disadvantage.Hejumped well for me on Sundayand it wasanideal introduction for him.
HEALYRACING
Handler DenisMurphy getsoffthe mark as Un Sens ALaVie (right) landsthe four-year-old maiden at Loughrea underJackHendrick
John Hegarty (right)onthe remarkable horses he hasowned
IHAVE always hadakeen interestinhorseracing and used to travel to the likes of Goodwood, Epsom, Longchampfor the Prix de l’ArcdeTriomphe and to all the bigmeetings in Britain, as well as the point-topoints
Igot into ownership backin 1989 when Iboughta foal from alocal manwith the same name as me,John Hegarty, from Ballymoney.
It wasa geldingbyFidel and he initiallykept him for the firstyear for me beforeI took him to afarminDonegalfor a year.Whenhewas athreeyear-old Isenthim to Willie Rock andhewas broken and gotgoing.
He wasnamed Glenalla Star and wonhis firstpoint-topointonhis veryfirst runat Tyrella in March1994. To topit off,heran in the bumper at Down Royalfivedayslater and wontheretoo.John Quinn, who wasworkingfor Willie Rock at the time,rodehim on bothoccasions
It wasa dream startto racehorse ownership and I’ve beenhookedeversince My next horse,Glenalla Bella,was trainedatthe
‘WingedLeader’ssecond placeatthe Cheltenham Festivalwas huge forus’
CAFRE [CollegeofAgriculture, Food andRural Enterprise Enniskillen] and she went on to wintwice.Unfortunately, she diedafter afreak accidentwhile in foal.
At the time, Ialsobought acouple of maresand I’ve bred a few horses over the years, including Glenalla Sam, who raninfiveraces and wonone Ihavehad along-standing and successful association with David Christie goingback 25 years He rang me to see if Iwould consider syndicatingGlenalla Star when Ifirstgot him.I declinedthat offer butweran into eachother afew years
afterwardsatDoncaster Sales
After alongchat,Isenthim ahorsetotrain and I’ve been thereeversince.David also rode alot of my horses backthen. David and I have avery good relationship. He’s an excellent trainer and we’vehad alot of big achievements together,but over the years,I’vealsohad horses with Willie Rock, John Quinn, CAFRE,GeorgeYoung and Noel Kelly. I’ve hadsomany memorable days in racingthat it’s hard to pickjustone.My firstwinner,Glenalla Star,was unforgettable,but Winged Leader’s second place at the
Cheltenham Festivaltwo years ago, when he wasbeaten by just aneckinthe Hunters’ Chasewas ahugeday for us Ican’tput into wordshow specialthat was, it was definitelyone of the highlights Unfortunately, Ihad to watch theraceontelevision as Iwas recovering from illnessand wasunable to travel over IboughtWinged Leader in 2018. He’d wonhis maiden in style at Loughbrickland for RobJamesand Donnchadh Doyle. Iwas thereonthe day and Iactually backedhim.I thoughthewon impressively butitnever entered my head I mighteverown him Ievensaidtothe ladswith me thereonthe daythat he wasa horsetowatch and there wasmoretocome from him Acouple of weeks later David Christie phonedand said anice horse hadbeen
entered as awildcardatthe upcomingsales.Hethoughthe could be boughtprivately beforehand, anditjustso happenedtobeWinged Leader.Rob James also recommendedthe horse to me and the rest is history.
He wascrowned champion point-to-pointhorse last season and his winatPortrush on Saturdaywas his 23rdin point-to-points;he’salsowon fourraces on thetrack.
Finoel wasanother special horsefor me.Hewas agreat servantand won15times
Another prolific horse Iowned wasRoyal Ranger.Hewas a winner of 16 points and one on the track.
I’ve beenverylucky to have ownedsomeremarkable horses who have amassed88 wins betweenthem
My partner,Jennifer O’Kane, and Ienjoyand appreciate
eachand everywinner,racing horses is ouronly hobby. We rarely miss apoint-topointand have beenbig supporters of the fixture in Portrush.Wemusthavebeen sponsoringraces therefor morethanten years now under ourhotel, TheRoyal Court, in Portrush HavingWinged Leader win again at ourlocal meetingjust addedtothe day. That washis tenth successive victorybut it’s waytoo earlytotalk about another tilt at the Cheltenham Hunters’Chase.He’satenyear-old and we’rejusthappy to keep him pointingfor now and see what happens This season, IhaveVaucelet, Ask DMan and Winged Leader intrainingwith David and the plan is to keep them sound and keep winning.
JOHN HEGARTY WASTALKING TO DEBBIEMcCRELLIS
NEWS AND VIEWS EoghainWard
Quinnand McParlansteal theshowagain
IT IS fair to saythat GerQuinn hasstolen all the headlines on the openingtwo weekends of the season
Aft er se ndin go ut fiv e runnerstofinishinthe places at To ome br id ge on the op eni ng da yo ft he new campaign,the Broughshane trainercame very closeto maintainingthat strike-rateat Portrush on Saturday.
Of his six runners at the Route Hunt’s fixture, four won, while the stable’s Weespoof would alsohavemade the frame butfor fallingatthe penultimatefence in the winners-of-three race when holdingevery chance
Noel McParlan hasreaped the rewardsofQuinn’s flying start to the season as the reigningnorthern champion partnered threeofQuinn’s Portrush winners, pushinghis haul from the openingtwo weekends of the campaign to six.
No riderhas hada better starttothe season than the County Down jockey, who reachedthe six-winner mark lastseason only at theend of Januaryinwhat washis second mostsuccessful campaign,one that alsotookhim to afourth leadingriders’ title in the region.
That wasachievedthrough
“I am in business more than 30 years and theseare my customers;it’smyway of giving backand saying thankyou.” In addition to the National Hunt breeders’ prize, O’Leary is expandinghis supportfor point-to-pointingthis year with aprize of €500 for oneofthe nextgeneration of riders From the listofriderswho land theirfirst pointingwinner, one will be selected at random for the prize.
Peppards Castle opens its gatestoIsland hunt
Anew addition to the point-topointcalendar will be unveiled on Sundaywhen the Island Hunt races at Peppards Castle for the firsttime Locatedclosetothe Wexford coastline north of Kilkmuckridge, the courseisdescribed as astiff left-handedtrack with aone-milecircuit setacross twofields. Forthosetravelling to the new venue, the Eircode Y25 HY96 is advised Pe ppar ds Ca stl ew ill become the latest course for the hunt, whichhas held po in t- to -p oin tf ix tu re s throughoutCountyWexfordat Gorey, Banntown,Kilmuckridge, Craanford,Camolin, Cu lle nt ra, Ba lly dar ra gh, Courtown,and mostrecently Ballycrystal ThepurchaseofEchoingSilencefor
his association with Quinnand Caroline McCaldin, as the pair grew as significantforces in the region. They enjoyedpersonal-best campaigns andwerethe two yardstosaddlemostwinnersin the northern region in the 2023-24 season. Theopening twofixturesin that region of this season have only reinforcedlastterm’s achievementsfor thetrio.
A€2,500 ‘thank-you’ prizefor breeders
Breeders will have alucrative targettoaim at again this season as Dungar QualityOats have announcedthe continuation of their National Hunt breeders’prize Introducedlast season, the Tipperary-based company offereda prizeof€2,500 to the breeder of the top-pricedfouror five-year-oldmarebredin
Ireland who raninamaiden point-to-pointand wasthen offered at either the Goffs or Tattersalls point-to-pointsales Carlow’sHilda Rothwell was last season’s winner when the four-year-old EchoingSilence, who she bred outofthe Taipan mare Taipers,achieved asalestoppingprice of £410,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival sale in March.
Trained
by SamCurling and
ownedbyCorrena and JJ Bowe, the daughterofDoyen made a winningdebutatBallycahane
Explainingwhy the prizeis targetedatbreeders,Tadgh O’LearyofDungarQuality Oatssaid: “Asabreeder,I understand the challenges National Hunt breeders face and,asweall know,without the breeder therewould be no horses. So Ifelt it importantto reward the worktheydo.
PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)
ROUTE AT PORTRUSH SATURDAY
Kovanis sparks four-timer for mighty Quinn
REIGNING northern region champion rider Noel McParlan followed up his opening day treble with another at Portrush.
And, just as at Toomebridge last week, Barry O’Neill fired in a double to keep tabs on his rival as he maintained his effort to land a ninth successive leading riders’ title
Even more impressive than the efforts of those two jockeys, however, was trainer Ger Qu inn, who su pplie d all McParlan’s winners and one for Dara McGill, putting him on six for the campaign and well on course to beat last season’s total of 15
Debut-making Kovanis was first to strike for former jockey Quinn as the French-bred turned the 11-runner Dennison Commercials four-year-old maiden into a procession.
McParlan’s mount, a £50,000 purchase by owner Philip McBurney at last year’s Goffs spring store sale in Doncaster, quickened smartly away from the penultimate fence to beat fellow newcomer Daydream Nation by ten lengths
“What can I even say about that; he was just unbelievable,” Qu inn sa id. “ I’ve alway s thought a lot of him and his work at home has been very good Noel gave him a brilliant ride.”
Bayonetta was the second su cces s for Qu inn and McParlan in the W Oliver Exorna mares’ maiden.
The six-year-old had finished second at Toomebridge a week earlier and put that race-fitness to goo d us e as McParlan guided her to a three-length defeat of Fiddledee, ridden by O’Neill and trained by reigning champion Colin Bowe
Sporting the colours of former handler Rodney Arthur, Bayonetta was not the only winner on the card with which Arthur had a connection, as Tamlaght Eyes, who brought up a treble for Quinn in the Royal Court Hotel winners-ofthree, was previously in his care.
The eight-year-old mare had run three times for Arthur in 2021 before switching to her current connections and she bounced back to the promise that had seen her win a maiden by 15 lengths on her stable debut at Tyrella more than two years earlier
Star performance
There was no disguising the superiority of Kovanis on his debut when he left several well-bred rivals trailing
One of three horses holding claims approaching the thirdlast, McGill’s mount was left clear by the departure of her odds-on stablemate Weespoof, partnered by McParlan, and Lecale Way, allowing her to return ten lengths clear of the previous week’s Toomebridge scorer Tech Talk
“The yard is flying; Gerald and the whole team are doing a brilliant job and we couldn’t have started the season any better,” said McBurney, owner of Weespoof and Tamlaght Eyes
“There has been a lot of effort put in, Gerald is the main man but the team behind him all work very hard and we are reaping the rewards for that.”
Quinn’s fourth winner and McParlan’s third came in the Semple The Potato People and Maddybenny older geldings’ maiden.
The locally trained Speedy Box was upsides two out, albeit under pressure, when his departure left Morale Boost to return alone
Making a belated debut at the age of six , the Aidan Darragh-owned gelding is likely to be seen in winners’ company next after the perfect start to his career
“The horses are flying, so hopefully we can keep it up,” Quinn said of his memorable afternoon.
Last season’s champion point-to-pointer Winged Leader made a winning return as he continued his excellent strike-rate at the course on the Causeway coast in the Macauley Wray Solicitors open.
The ten-year-old won nine races on the bounce last season to secure his title for locally based owners John Hegarty and Jennifer O’Kane and he made it four wins from his last four appearances at Portrush –his 23rd pointing success to add to four under rules –although he was forced to dig deep to do so
The Simon Munir and Isaac Souede-owned Carnfunnock
final two fences, only to be outjumped at the last, which saw Winged Leader battle back to the front under O’Neill to win by a length
“It’s great to see him in that form. I kept him ticking over during the summer to prevent him from getting stiff,” said handler David Christie
“He usually takes two or three runs to get going, so if he was going to get beat, I would not have been disappointed if it was today.”
O’Neill opened his double when Diligent Militia made a winning debut in the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale and Cunningham Covers five-yearold geldings’ maiden
Bought by Gold Cup-winning trainer Henrietta Knight for €195,000 at the 2022 Land Rover sale, the No Risk At All gelding became Bowe’s third winner of the season when beating Tsavo Park by three and a half lengths
surged past him between the
Champion point-to-pointer Winged Leader started his title defence with a victory in the Macauley Wray Solicitors open
The Colin Bowe-trained newcomer Diligent Militia takes the five-year-old geldings maiden under Barry O’Neill
GALWAY BLAZERS AT LOUGHREA SUNDAY
Maxwell records first points victory with Look Dont Touch
DUBLINER Conor Maxwell, who has mixed race-riding with a burgeoning training operation, ticked off a first victory in the point-to-point fields
It came in the Westport Equipment and INHSC older geldings’ maiden for novice riders when the 37-year-old saddled Look Dont Touch to land an impressive victory.
Pl ace d ov er fence s at Tipperary during the summer, the nine-year-old Imperial Monarch gelding made his first appearance between the flags look a doddle in cruising to an 18- len gth su cc es s ov er Longhouse Star
The victory was a second in the sphere for 19-year-old rider Ivan Ryan, who is the twin brother of champion apprentice title contender James
“That’s great for Ivan as he rides out for me three or four mornings a week when he’s not too busy with college,” Maxwell said.
“This is a grand horse who had some nice runs on the
Star performance
Wonderwall didn’t have to be fully extended to account for two previous winners in the open division
track. We’ll have a look at a winners’ race for him before heading back to the track.”
Leading Wexford handler Denis Murphy made a winning start to the campaign, as Un Sens A La Vie, his first runner of the season, battled gamely to scoop the Tattersalls Ireland November National Hunt Sale four-year-old maiden.
A €50,000 purchase at the sponsor’s 2023 Derby sale, the Muhtathir gelding had made a promising start to his career when finishing third in a competitive Loughanmore maiden in the spring. He put that experience to good use as he denied Derek O’Connor a second success in the age group as a handler in as many weeks, with Bras D’Or
missing out by a neck
O’Connor fared better in the Connacht Tribune open when teaming up with Wonderwall, a new recruit to the Tipperary stable of Sam Curling.
The eight-year-old, who had twice won under rules in Britain for Richard Spencer and was latterly with Peter Bowen, was picked up by the Skehanagh stables operator for £33 ,000 at the Go ff s UK Summer sale in July, having not won since January 2022.
He ha d, ho we ve r, onl y narrowly missed out on victory at Cartmel on his final outing for his previous connections, and he made an immediate impression in this sphere by beating the course winner Er Dancer by a length and a half Sporting the silks of John O’Leary, colours principally associated with the three-time champion point-to-point mare La Feline, the Yeats gelding will continue in opens before going down the hunter-chase route
There was a significant upset in the Connolly’s Red Mills and
Michael Cooney & Sons fiveyear-old geldings’ maiden when Youlita defeated the shortpriced favourite Well Buoy by three-quarters of a length
Th e la tt er brou gh t the strongest form into the race on his first start for Enda Bolger, having gone close to making a winning debut in a Wexford bumper during the summer
Howe ve r, he wa s again for ce d to se tt le for the runner-up sp ot as James Mu rph y deli ve re d Pa ul Cashman’s Youmzain gelding to come out on top in a tight three-way finish
It was a simple task for Fountain House on his return to action when he claimed the Powerland winner-of-one for Eoin Mahon and Ian McCarthy
Absent since finishing a creditable second on his first start over banks in the Ladies Cup at last season’s Punchestown festival, the six-year-old had too much in hand of five rivals as he beat the Ballysteen maiden winner Fralimonti Bilbery by four and a half lengths
“We could have sold him last year but said we’d hold on to him, so it’s great that it worked out,” McCarthy said.
“He ran a huge race in Punchestown last season, so we’re kind of working back from there again now. With that in mind, he’ll run in winners’ races and in banks races at places like Lingstown this season.”
Th e Ma hon-M cC ar th y combination had earlier been for ce d to se tt le for the runner-up spot in the Michael Dempsey Memorial mares’ maiden when Beckley Love was beaten by Mandalay Maggie
Having her first start for Sean Osborne, after being trained by Mick Goff, it was her former handler’s son Harry Goff who was aboard as he guided the Ballingarr y runner-up to victory by four and a half lengths, his second success in the saddle.
The five-year-old will now be aimed at a winners’ event at Tinahely, his connections’ local course.
Wonderwall made a fine impression on his points debut with an assured display in the Connacht Tribune open
Firstcrop4-year-oldGOREPOINT wonatStratfordfor AnthonyHoneyball andowner/breedersMark &LizPendarves
5-year-oldTHEOTHERMOZZIEwonaBeginnersChase onhisfirststartoverfencesatGalway forGavinCromwell
FirstIrishcrop4-year-oldREIKEREVOLUTION wonabumperatGalwayforSharkHanlon andowner/breederJamesFDunne
Anotherfirst Irishcrop4-year-old,LELOOPA, wonamaidenhurdle atHerefordonMonday forFergalO’Brien