MUCH has been made of the fact that Irish flat racing has been dominated for decades by the ‘big four’ and similarly, two mighty stables are slipping the field in the National Hunt code.

A feature of the sport of harness racing in Ireland is that success and ‘good runs’ were spread quite fairly over six or eight yards in 2017. Yet, at the end of the season SHRI Awards, one stable, the “Ballydoyle” of Irish trotting, the Meadowbranch Stables of north county Dublin, monopolised the crystal trophies.

The ageless John Richardson (JR) won Driver of the Year yet again. He is the first to hold the silver salver provided by new sponsor The Irish Field.

Willie Flanagan won trainer of the year and the Meadowbranch umbrella took owner of the year. The sport needs a Gordon Elliott to come and ruffle the pecking order.

Will a Kane, a Wallace or a Dunne depose Richardson in the incoming season? It’s 4/6 JR, 2/1 Jonny Dunne, 6/1 bar with one well-known firm for the Drivers’ Championship 2018.

Amongst the highlights at Annaghmore, Co Armagh were a win for 78-year-old trouper Tommy Beattie with his homebred Night Skater. Also at the northern venue, Astounding brought out the tissues with two emotional wins in his first season without his late owner Kyle McSparron.

The NISA season climaxed when a good crowd witnessed the Dunnes dominate a meeting which they generously sponsored, the Christopher Dunne Memorial.

The ITHRF carried on their sterling work in the West Cork region. The Cork trotting scene has uncovered a fantastic sponsor in the shape of Bill Donovan of Florida. With a surname like that, it’s no surprise that Bill’s ancestors hailed from Skibbereen and the businessman has ensured that the Red John Memorial is one of the premier meetings in Britain and Ireland.

Patrick Hill, a friend of the late Red John O’Donovan took the headlines at this meeting. Bill Donovan’s man in Cork, Donal Murphy, proved that the American has chosen wisely with a four-timer at the Lyre venue. John Shanahan of Leap took the pacing feature with Rhyds Panache driven by Timmy O’Leary.

EARLY SEASON

Alan Wallace’s Newtown Stud are worth following in the early season. Back in May, Ultimo d’Ouville beat Vichy De Moem and the hardy gelding did not run a bad race all season before a private sale in October to neighbours the Roches.

Dubs, but deported to Kildare, the Dunnes took a few coveted pots in the early season at Portmarnock. In June, brothers Geoff and Jonny combined to have the decent but perhaps not top-drawer, Triplicate trained to within an inch of her life to win the Grendon Memorial. The €8,000 earned meant that the filly’s handicap was shot to pieces forever, a drawback of the ‘monies won’ system which I personally abhor.

COLOURED PACERS

The breeding and racing of coloured pacers is a sport within a sport. No stranger to a bit of flash, the boss at Porterstown, Christy Dunne prepared White Flame, a stallion which broke the world record for pintos at Portmarnock and a few weeks later brightened up the formal, almost sombre, Musselburgh meeting by becoming the first coloured heat winner in seven decades.

At the height of summer John Richardson won three races with an immature looking three-year-old named Gentleman Jim II. The gelding is by Kikicolt out of Artist Control, making him a full-sister to Kick Ass Katie, (p, 1.56.4.)

The colt was in the meadow long before the leaves came off the trees. The last son of Kikicolt that received this JR treatment was no less than Bath Lane. Watch this space.

The Vincent Delaney Memorial Weekend is unquestionably Irish harness racing’s banner weekend. This year the two-year-old colts division went to top priced yearling and winter favourite Matticulous for British connections and driven by Scotsman Willie Greenhorn for the Laidlers.

The VDM also saw a popular win in the fillies’ division for “The Leaning Demon”, Jonny Dunne aboard Robyn Camden. Lyons Leme May with Michael O’Mahony (what a year he had) and Tarawood CJ (Jonny Dunne for Paul Bennett) took the three-year-old contests.

The Red John Memorial will be held in June in 2018. As the two grass meetings were so close in the calendar in 2017, there were very few Irish runners at Tregaron (near Aberystwyth) in August.

Nevertheless, the good run continues for this country as Golleen-born Michael O’Mahony won everything apart from Best Dressed Lady! Well, nine winners to be exact, over two days including the feature, the Welsh Classic.

Hopefully the change of date for the RJM (as it is becoming known) will help the Welsh meeting to prosper as it really is harness racing at its best.

TROTTEURS FRANçAIS

September was all about the Trotteurs Français Championships, richly sponsored by Le Trot of France. The hard working painter-of-fences and pusher of starting cars, Ger Kane got a just reward for a lifetime of involvement at Portmarnock. His son Sean and the filly Ella Lou Lou took the gold division and a record €15,000 winners’ cheque.

The silver division went to Epsom De Corvees (Martin Loughran for the Maughan brothers) as Elsa De Rocha (John Richardson) broke on the line which means automatic disqualification. Billy Roche took the bronze division with Sean Collins’ Elvira Poterie.

The Kellehers and Quills set aside old Cork/Kerry grudges to go into partnership of the gelding Extase Des Epines. The irrepressible Mikey Kelleher was delighted for his young friend Seamus Quill who took the driving honours in the consolation final.

By October, the wily Roches were flexing their muscles. Anyone who has ever had an involvement in harness racing, however fleeting, will know that trotters as opposed to pacers require more patience during the three-minute game of chess at the track. It is testimony to Billy Roche’s skill that his four-timer on October 22nd was earned with trotters only.

MONTÉ

Also in October, Emma Kane showed the versatility of both horse and rider when she cajoled a clean round of trotting out of the quirky Saxo De Marrancourt in a monté race.

The Irish Field at that time carried a piece about the art of racing the strapping Trotteurs Français under saddle. Apprentices and lads from thoroughbred yards are welcome at any harness racing barn and it is hoped to expand the Monté programme in 2018. Racing trotters did not blunt the skills of Messrs Soumillon, Lordan and Williamson.

Billy Roche has taught his young cousin Eoin Joyce well and Eoin enjoyed some good wins with Rhyds Rambler and Streamside Star. The Joyces are adept at laying one out for a gamble. ‘Market moves should be noted’ is the polite euphemism.

The autumn meetings saw the emergence of a young man who looks like he could follow his Richardson cousins into the big races of harness racing. Aidan Caffrey got a great tune out of Kevin Corey’s Fairdays Western, taking over two seconds (10 lengths) off the gelding’s lifetime mark.

Marcus McAleer, the teenager with the ready smile, actually won the apprentice series for 2017, generously sponsored by leading photographer Nadina Ironia.

AT THE SALES

After the racing season closed the Irish brigade were active at the sales in York and mid-Wales. Willie and Mark Flanagan caught the auctioneer’s eye at the crucial moment as the strapping Oakwood Starcam, a filly from the Offaly stud of the same prefix set a UK sales record for a filly. £28,000 was the price tag.

A few weeks earlier, the sporting brothers from Enniskillen (the Maughans) went to £9,000 for the optimistically named Ayr Frankel, at the Camden stud sale at York. The Huschka brothers from Cumbria, who also have thoroughbred Stamp Hill with Richard Fahey, bought Horatio Camden and Christy Camden (£24,000 and £19,000 respectively). If they stay sound, these two will be contenders for the VDM trophy in 2018.

The two expensive Camden-breds will be trained by husband and wife team William ‘Rocker’ Laidler and Alexis. All being well, the vivacious Alexis Laidler will be at Portmarnock in August too, with both their runners and Alexis herself turned out to perfection.

Google the name ‘Raymond Poulidor’ and you will learn that the cyclist was known as ‘The Eternal Second’ as he continually hit the crossbar in the famous Tour de France.

Sean Kane is getting some ribbing from our French partners as his French record now reads 222, following a fantastic second with a ‘dodgepot’ at Vincennes in November. I’m not sure what the French is for ‘dodgepot’!

Not to be outdone, the scion of the Kenmare clan, young Seamus Quill, emulated Sean Kane by also driving a winner in New Zealand at the time of writing.

From Santa Anita to Sha Tin, where there is a good horse there is an Irishman and this tiny nation’s success with thoroughbreds is starting to spill over to their cousins with the plainer heads (i.e. standardbreds). The international success of the likes of Seamus Quill, Sean Kane and on the home front, young Aidan Caffrey, excites even old cynics like yours truly.

In November, Minister Michael Creed unveiled the long-awaited Indecon report on Irish harness racing. The report was extremely positive and IHRA Chairman Mark Flanagan and his hard working committee are currently working on the recommendations.