Point-to-Point Weekly 27/03/2024

SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

Mary Stanford is in aclass of her own as sheputs in ascintillating performance under DarraghAllen at Lisronagh Reports,pages 4-5

‘J’y Vole hasn’t made the impact with her progeny that might have been expected based on her excellent race record’ Page 2

DEREK O’CONEVIN GALVIN

‘Havin aWed but it s week

ng our point-to-point at Ballykno dnesday is abit different nowad suits us and especially in Easte it helps to draw abig crowd’ Pa

€65,000 Charles Shanahan/Glenvale Stud

€48,000 Glenmore Farm

€46,000 Glenvale Stud

€43,000 Ballymore Bloodstock

€42,000 Moanmore Stables

€30,000 Glenvale Stud

€30,000 WeirViewStud

€28,000 KCS Bloodstock

3

€28,000 Eimear Fallon

€27,000 Bleahen Brothers

€26,000 Luke Bleahen

€26,000 Kevin Ross Bldstk x2

IrishDerby-Gr.1andRoyalAscot

Gr.2winnerbyAUTHORIZED

Wednesday,March

DerekO’Connor Straight to thePoint Banter At TheBar is aJ’y Vole offspringworth talkingabout

AFTER the lossofthe fixturesatLiscarroll and Loughrea,only two meetings went ahead lastweekend, although we couldhavethe compensation of a rare midweekpoint-to-pointfixture if the at Killeagh meetingatBallyknock goesahead todayafter an 8am inspection

Thereare 23 entries for the fouryear-old mares’ maiden and 26 for the geldings’race in the same age group, although we know for sure that we won’t see one of them.

Banter At TheBar made himself ineligible by winningthe opening race at Portrush last Saturdayfor Sean Doyle andthe Monbeg Partnership.Jamie Scallan rode the Yeatsgelding patiently and he stayed on strongly to beat the PatTurleytrainedfavourite Cobbler’sBoy Banter At TheBar’s dam J’y Vole hasn’tmadethe sort of impactwith her progenythat mighthavebeen expectedbased on her excellentrace record, so it’s goodtosee shehas producedayoungster good enough to winamaidenfirsttime out.

As ajuvenile hurdler,after joining Willie Mullins from France,J’y Vole finishedbestofthe Irish runners when fifth to Katchit in the2007 Triumph Hurdle and wonaGrade 3 hurdle on areturn visit to Auteuil in the spring.

Shemadeaspectacular startover fences as afive-year-old winning eachofher firsttwo races by a 30-length margin beforebeatingBig Zebinthe Grade 1DrPJMoriartyat Leopardstown.She wasn’talways dependable after that butenjoyed other majordaystoo,winninga big handicap chaseatthe Punchestown festival and the RedMills Chaseat Gowran.

J’y Vole gave agreat startinracing to the Hammer &TrowelSyndicate, who gotthe brilliantQuevega and thehigh-classThousand Starsnot longafter.Quevegahas already producedtalentedhorses by Walk In ThePark–Facile Vega and Aurora Vega –but plenty of top-class race mareshavefailedtohit the heights as broodmares.

Theconnections of Banter At The Barwererepresentedinthe fouryear-old maiden at Lisronaghon SundaybySupreme George,who finishedfourthbehind the Colin Bowe-trainedKorkoranat

Ballinaboola earlylastmonth

He ranwelltotakesecond place butcouldn’t gettogrips with the John O’Donovan-trainednewcomer Douglas Hyde,who wasgiven awelljudged ride from the frontbyEoin Mahon to winbyfourlengths

Eoin is acapable jockeywho has alreadyridden severalfour-year-old winners this season, includingPure Steelfor me at Belclareearlier this month.Hegot Douglas Hyde into a nice rhythm in his jumping. That’s

‘J’y Vole gave a greatstart in racing to the Hammer & Trowel Syndicate, whogot the brilliant Quevega andthe high-class Thousand Starsnot long after’

very important if you’retryingto make all, especiallyintesting conditions

Copper Jack wasa goodwinner of the five-year-old maiden at Lisronagh. TheDoyen gelding was havinghis thirdstartand hasmade goodprogresssince failingtoland a blowonthe Gordon Elliott-trained Kish Bank at Tinahely in November Kish Bank looked along-term chasingprospectwhen winninga Punchestown bumper in the Gigginstown colours only three weeks afterthat debutwin RobJames, who rode Copper Jack, is enjoyingabrilliant runofform. That was his sixth winfrom nine rides,starting with atrebleshared with Donnchadh Doyleatthe St Patrick’sDay fixture at Ballyragget, includingan impressivefour-year-old maiden winwith Flemensfirth geldingMossy FenRoad

He hadadouble at Portrush last Saturday, takinga mares’ maiden with LuckyLionessfor Donnchadh,

and teamingupwithDavid Christie to landthe open on Winged Leader, athirdpointwin of the season and 16th in all for the ten-year-old,who ranthe race of his life when beaten only aneckbyBillawayinthe St James’s Place at Cheltenham in 2022.

Winged Leader hasn’trun on the tracksince finishingdownthe field inthe Foxhunter at Aintreelast season. Nowhe’sbackinthe habit of winninginpoints after startingthe season with three defeatsDavid may be tempted to runhim in the Joseph O’Reilly at FairyhousenextSaturday.

TheCountyFermanagh trainer appeared to have agood chance of an open race double lastweekend since his Lisronaghrunner,the former Gordon Elliott-trainedAu Fleuron, wasaimingfor ahat-trick after winninghis first tworaces for the stable at Punchestown and Kirkistown.

He wasanodds-on favourite on Sundaybut couldn’t find enough to copewiththe Sean Allen-trained Prophets Song, who wasgiven a positive ride by Joanna Walton to add to lastmonth’s Nenagh win.

Meanwhile,young ShaneCotter who rode Au Fleurontohis two

successesinnoviceriders’ events, gotanother winner on the boardat Portrush.Hewon’t have an easier one than this,since he wasleftclear on the GerQuinn-trainedGlencorp when his only remainingrival fell three out. That’s six for the season for Shane in his firstcampaign, putting him thirdonthe under-21 listbehind Dara McGill and Alan O’Sullivan.

Unfortunately, the weather is continuingtoplayspoilsport, with Loughanmore’stwo-dayEaster meetingalreadycalled off.With luck, the meetings at Curraghmore, Monksgrange andQuakerstown will go ahead. Handlers arekeentoget youngsters up and runningand we’re goingtohavealogjamifwelosetoo many more fixtures.

Apriloughttobea monthwhen the ground is near to ideal, not too testingcompared with the opening months of the year and not too quick, which canhappeninMay in the closingweeks of theseason. With so many highly professional operations and smaller-time handlers tryingtoplantheir campaignsaround sales dates,a spell of cancellations canhavea negativeimpact.

J’y Vole’s sonBanterAtThe Bar(left), with Jamie Scallan on board,onhis waytovictory over Cobbler’s Boyand Declan Lavery at Portrush

HEALYRACING

KevinGalvin talks aboutthe pleasure of stagingthe well-supported Ballyknock fixture

THIS will be our thirdyear racingat ournew trackin Ballyknock butit wasNicholas Kelly and the late Willie O’Neill who were the main men behind gettingour point-to-pointat Inch up and runningin1995.

They hadtried to getit startedtwo years beforebut hadbeenturneddownin1993 and 1994. Willie wasvery anxious to geta point-to-point goinginthe area,and he wasa bigpartofit. Luckily, from the startithas beensuccessful.

Havingthe point-to-pointon aWednesday is abit different nowadays.Weare the lastof them compared to backinthe daywhen mostofthe fixtures were runmidweek

It suits us to race on a Wednesdayasmostofthe committeeare farmers,and as we’reracingonthe Wednesday of Easter weekitreally helps to draw abig crowd.

All the localschools are closed,sothereisabig local turnout.Wewould probably getmoreofa localcrowd than aracingone,especially when the weather is on oursideand you geta fine day.

NEWS AND VIEWS

‘Weare allgetting older; youngpeopleare theones youwanttoget involved’

Thelocals aregood to supportus. We puta lot of moneybackintothe parish with the GAA, the ladies football, thecamogie and all the differentsportswehave given moneytooverthe years

When we made moneywe gave it backtothe parish and theyare good to supportusas well. It worksboth ways

We have hadmanygreat moments over the years but one that standsout is when JimmyManganbrought Monty’sPasstoparade after he hadwon the Grand National over in Aintree. Jimmywould be averypopularman around here, so it wasbig to have him winthat race.

It hasbeenaverywet winter this season, whichhas not made it easy forany of the committees to gettracksready.

We have hada few drydays, which hasbeenveryhelpful for us to let the trackdry out, and thereisa lot of grassinthe

field, which helps too, as the ground candry up alot quickeratthis time of the year

We would have left thetrack to drythoseextra couple of days beforesetting up anythingelseand then we marked outthe track, the carparkand things like that over the weekend. It took a bit longerthis year because of the weather as you tryto keep off the trackitself as much as possible

Thefences went on to the trackacouple of weeks ago, which wasveryhelpful. Billy O’Brien putthem in early, which saves alot of hassle when it’s wetter

Therecould easily be 30 people involved in the set-up work.Lastyear,wehad agreat turnout of young fellas aged 14 or 15 who would be relatedto people alreadyinvolved

We areall gettingolder, unfortunately; thoseyoung people arethe ones you want

to getinvolved to keep it going. Thereisagreat local committeehere. They aregreat people to rally around things, and it is areal community spirit.Ithas alwaysbeenthere, and thankfully, it is stillgoing strong. Youwouldn’t do it otherwise

Imissed the firstyear myself, and then in 1996, Nicholas droveintothe yard hereand

told me Iwas getting involved,and that wasit. Ihad no choice then. Iwas the chairmanfor about13years.

Idon’t rememberitmyself, butmylatefather Billy rode in point-to-points backinthe 1950s.Ican rememberhim tellingusthat he would cycle to the point-to-point, ride in races and then cycleback home again in the evenings That’s what theyused to do in those days.Ididn’t actually realiseherodeinpoint-topoints until laterinlife.

Therewerenever really

point-to-pointersathome.I firstgot involved in ahorse about20yearsago,and then I boughta broodmare andwe stillhavetwo broodmares here.

Thankfully, we’vehad some successoverthe years.Ibred Esthers Marvel and KenBudds trainedher formetowin twice on the track. Shewas retired last year and Ithink she is in foal.

Shewas coveredbyStorm

TheStars and this will be her firstfoal. Twobroodmaresare enough for me; theydon’t mix with cows!

Ihaveonlyone morehorse to runatthe moment. That’s a four-year-old filly who is also with Ken. She’sasisterto Dgalwaygallivantor,who won beforeChristmas for Gavin Cromwell. Hopefully, we’ll have abit of luckwith her –we’ll keep dreaminganyway.

KEVIN GALVIN WASTALKING TO EOGHAIN WARD

JamesinpolepositiontotakeO’Neill’s title

THREE winners last weekend for RobJames broughtthe Wexfordrider within seven wins of the summit of the riders’championship

Ordinarily, such agap to the reigning champion Barr y O’Neillwould not be astrong talkingpoint headinginto April, given the dominance O’Neill hasenjoyedtowin the title for the lastseven years

Ho we ve r, wi th O’ Ne ill sidelinedbyabackinjuryfrom afall at Knockanohill ten days agoJamescould have his best chance of the nationaltitle

It is tenyearssince thenow 30-year-old rider wascrowned under-21 champion and since then he hasadded regional titles in the southand west Histreblelastweekend, came for three handlers–Donnchadh Doyle,David Christie and Colin Bowe –and movedhim ahead of Derek O’Connor into second place on the leaderboard.

Thecomingweekends will be keyashetries to move to the top of the table before the defendingchampion returns WingedLeader moves up all-time-winners’list

Winged Leadercame withina whisker of adding his name to

the listofhorseswho have earned Cheltenham Festival glorywhen narrowly denied by Billaway in the 2022StJames’s Place FestivalHunterChase Although that honour eluded him,the ten-year-old hassince returnedtothe pointing fields and over the lasttwo years has steadilyenhancedhis status.

After startingthe season with three uncharacteristic defeats

in op en companyhehas gainedthree victories in a mon th at Fa rm ac affle y, Belclareand Portrush HisPortrush successon Saturdaywas his 16th between the flags, leavinghim alongside notable names of yesteryear, such as No Other Way, Sydney Paget,The BlackWatch and RoyalRanger.

Thelatterwas alsotrainedby

David Chr ist ie,w ith the Fermanaghhandler heavily representedonthe listofthose trainingthe mostsuccessful point-to-pointers.Hehas now trainedsix individual horses to win15ormorepoints

Althoughthe 33 wins of Still William is outofreach, each successthat follows for Winged Leader will see him edge further up the all-time table

McCaldin’srarerun of success in thenorth Sixfixtureshavetaken place in the northern region since the turn of the year,and Caroline McCaldin hasachieved the rare featofhaving awinnerat each thanks to Ballyphilip’s victoryatPortrush on Saturday.

TheDromara handler, who producedthe ill-fated Grade1 winner Hermes Allen to landa

four-year-old maiden,has enjoyedher successfulrun with horses she hasprogressed through the ranks.

Ballyphilip took an older maiden at Farmacaffleylast month on his first startinthis spherefor McCaldinand he is already athree-time winner after further successagainst fellowwinners at Kirkistown and Portrush McCaldin hasalsosaddled Slievehill and Ballybrittas to wi nt wi ce in 2024, while Gorthill waspar ticularly impressive on his firststart in open companyatKirkistown last month.

Thenet effect of this spellis that of the handlers in thetop 20 nationally, only Declan Queally andGordon Elliott have astrike-ratebetterthan McCaldin’s 39 percent.

Ballyknock inspection

Therewillbean8am inspection at Ballyknockfor today’s meeting. Thetrack wasfit for racingyesterdayand the ground wasdescribed as heavy followingMonday’s48-hour in sp ect ion of the tr ac k. However, duetoforecast overnightrain aprecautionary inspection hasbeencalled. Racingisdue to startat1.30pm

KevinGalvin (right)with Esthers Marvel after hervictory under Darragh O’Keeffeina mares’beginnerschase at Kilbeggan

RobJames gains thethird of his weekendsuccesses on Copper Jack (near side)atLisronagh

HEALYRACING

‘Young’ Winged Leader helps Christie keep his open grip

DAVID CHRISTIE maintained his tight hold on the open pr iz es at Po rt ru sh when Winged Leader dominated the Kelly’s Portrush open.

The 15-length defeat of Jay Bee Why not only confirmed his defeat of that rival from a month earlier at Farmacaffley, but it also supplied the tenyear-old Winged Leader’s Fermanagh-based trainer with his seventh success in the division at the seaside venue.

That is all the more notable given there have been only nine such races at the track since its introduction to the point-to-point calendar in 2019.

“Barry O’Neill got off him in Galway last time and said it felt like he was riding the Winged Leader of old,” Christie said.

“Today Rob James said he felt like a young horse so it’s really nice to see him thriving.

“He’ll probably continue in opens but I’ll give him an entry in the Joseph O’Reilly hunters chase.”

James ensured the 780km return trip from his Killanne base was worthwhile by adding the Cu nnin gh am Co vers mares’ maiden to his day’s work on Lucky Lioness

The Donnchadh Doyletrained five-year-old had made

Star performance Winged Leader galloped his rivals into the ground as he clocked a time 23 seconds faster than the day’s average

an underwhelming return to action at Borris House this month on her first start in just under ten months

She showed the benefit of that effort, however, when battling to the front at the last, then staying on strongly to beat Townhill Lass by three lengths to become a second winner in a fortnight for her Sunnyhill Stud-based sire Lucky Speed

Doyle’s brother Sean had his second four-year-old success in six days when Banter At The Bar followed the win of stablemate Parish Quiz at Knockanohill a week earlier by claiming the Dennison Commercials four-year-old maiden.

Despite being out of the Grade 1-winning racemare J’y Vole, the Paul Murphy-bred bay had been picked up as a private sale outside the ring by Doyle, having failed to meet his reserve at last year’s Doncaster sale

That proved to be a good bit of business from the Monbeg

team as Banter At The Bar made the perfect start to his career by beating Cobbler’s Boy by two and a quarter lengths

“I thought an awful lot of him coming here,” Doyle said. “He’s a lovely big horse and I’d say it was a decent race He looks like the sort who will progress far.” Ger Quinn was the only handler to record a double, which he opened with the success of Takt De Touques in Gormley’s Pharmac y and

Tattersalls NH five-year-old geldings’ maiden.

The French-bred was second best to Cabaret Prince at Farmacaffley a month earlier, but Noel McParlan’s mount quickened smartly off the steady early pace to put his experience to good use in ou tb at tli ng ne wc omer Ballybow by a neck.

Quinn turned to the in-form 17-year-old Shane Cotter to bring up his double when the Cork rider guided Glencorp to

victory in the Semple – The Potato People and INHSC older geldings’ maiden for novice riders

The Ocovango gelding was one of six starters but, in an eventful contest, the six-yearold was the only horse left running when Ballybit fell three out.

“I know it was a messy race, but he came home well and jumped the last like a fresh horse considering the pace they went early He was at the head of affairs when his remaining rival exited,” Quinn said.

Ballybit’s handler, Caroline McCaldin, did not leave the ve nu e em pty -h ande d as Ballyphilip brought up a hat-trick in the Royal Court Hotel winners-of-two.

The Presenting six-year-old gelding came into the race after back-to-back victories at Farmacaffley and Kirkistown, and added a third success within a month when he was left clear by the final-fence fall of Clashhill, a horse sporting the same colours, those of the tr aine r’s fa the r, Wi ls on Dennison.

“Ballyphilip was brilliant. He’s progressive, so I’m excited to see how far he will go,” McCaldin said. “He’ll continue in points for now.”

Rob James drives Lucky Lioness away from Townhill Lass to take the mares’ maiden; (below) Takt De Touques and Noel McParlan (right) on their way to beating Ballybow

Pictures: HEALY RACING

Prophet’s

SEAN ALLEN continued his best season when Prophet’s Corner struck for the Araglen handler in the JOL Bloodstock ladies’ open.

The seven-year-old may have failed to land a winnersof-three race for the second year in a row on home turf at Knockanohill seven days earlier but, with testing conditions to suit at Lisronagh, the Westerner gelding made all.

Joanna Walton’s mount gamely picked up when the odds-on favourite and hattrick-seeking Au Fleuron tried to close in the straight and by the line Prophet’s Corner was clear by two and a half lengths

“The ground last Sunday had just dried out too much for him, and he didn’t like it at all,” Allen said of his fifth winner of the campaign.

“He’s a different proposition on the type of ground he got here. As long as the ground stays the way it is we’ll try to find another open for him.”

Allen’s younger brother Darragh matched his previous se as on’s bes t to tal o f 14 winners when guiding the Matt Collins-trained Mary Stanford to an impressive winning debut in the Kenilworth House Stud mares’ maiden.

The five-year-old was another of the day’s winners to benefit from front-running tactics, as Allen set out his intentions at flagfall. The pair set a strong gallop to account for the more experienced Suitably Surprised by 11 lengths

Star performance

Mary Stanford was in a league of her own from some way out and crossed the line full of running

“Darragh was very good on her,” Collins said. “He felt she loved the ground and was delighted with the way she jumped. The plan is to head to the Goffs UK Aintree Sale with her now.”

She looks likely to be joined on the boat to Liverpool by the Jo hn O’ Do nova n- traine d Douglas Hyde after he too made all the running to claim the Goffs UK Aintree Sale fouryear-old maiden.

Boug ht by th e wi nning handler’s son Chris for just €10,000 at last year’s Tattersalls Ireland July store sale, that looks to be a shrewd purchase after Eoin Mahon’s mount held off the Ballinaboola fourth Su preme Ge or ge by fo ur lengths to become the 12th winner in the age group for his sire Affinisea

“This is a lovely straightforward horse who we really fancie d to da y, ” Ch ri s O’Donovan said.

“He jumps and travels everywhere for you and he showed that today. He has never put in a bad piece of work since we got him.”

The biggest field of the day came in the Sherry Fitzgerald Country Homes older geldings’

maiden and it produced a thrilling finish when the experienced Arctic Skua showed a game attitude to battle back,

having been headed before the last, to beat Ooksoo by a head.

“That’s been a long time coming. He’s been frustrating

up to now as he’d been running very well behind good horses without getting his head in front,” handler Vincent Halley

said of the John Barry-ridden seven-year-old.

“In fairness, he rallied really well today after the last We’ll head on to a winners’ race with him now.”

Ooksoo’s rider, David Kiely, fared better in another exciting two-way tussle up the home st ra ig ht on Th e Brickey Ranger in the Skehanagh Stables unplaced maiden.

The race was opened up when the shor t- pr ice d favourite Dixie Mafia ran out with a circuit to race, and Ki ely ’s mo un t to ok fu ll advantage to beat Avenue De Pais by a length

“I’m delighted for his ownerbreeders, the Veales, as this horse’s dam, Silver Serenade, won at this track herself in 2015,” said winning handler Paddy Kiely, brother of the winning rider

Rob James took his tally of winners for the weekend to three when he followed up a Portrush double 24 hours earlier by getting on the scoreboard in the Tattersalls NH and Pa t Do yl e f ive- ye ar-old geldings’ maiden on Colin Bowe’s Copper Jack

The Doyen gelding appeared to benefit from a mid-season break as he left his autumn for m be hin d in be at in g Phoenix Arizona by two and a half lengths

Prophet’s Corner and Joanna Walton make their way home in front in the ladies’ open

Unbeaten at 2. Triple Group 1 winner at 3 by FRANKEL.

1st Irish Derby-Gr.1 like successful Grange sire FAMEANDGLORY

1st St Leger Stakes-Gr.1 like Grange Champion Sire MILAN

❝Hurricane Lane triumphs in epic Irish Derby❞ RACING POST

1st Grand Prix de Paris-Gr.1 by6 lengths

1st Dante Stakes-Gr.2

1st JockeyClub Stakes-Gr.2, a leading NH sire-making race

3rd Epsom Derby-Gr.1, like PRESENTING, SHANTOU etc.

3rd Prix de l’Arc deTriomphe-Gr.1

❝one ofthe best performances inthis race in recentyears,atotally dominant effort❞

Timeform on the St Leger Stakes

❝HurricaneLaneabsolutely thundershometowinagreat renewaloftheDanteStakes❞

RACING TV

❝HurricaneLaneisavery good-lookingsonofFrankel withplentyofscopeandagood action.Heshowedagreat constitutionthroughouthis careerandwasawonderful racehorsewhogaveus manygreatdays.❞

Trainer Charlie Appleby

❝an impressive display - the biggest winning margin in the race for over 30 years❞

Timeform on the Grand Prix de Paris

FRANKEL-GALEFORCE(SHIROCCO)