1986

CHRISTY Roche once again out-thought his rivals to get Authaal home in one of the most extraordinary classics I have witnessed.

The Jefferson Smurfit Memorial Irish St Leger at the Curragh on Sunday last was obviously not a classy affair, but it did bring out the previous year’s one-two, Leading Counsel and Faburola.

While the market leaders appeared to be watching each other, Roche kept on increasing his lead on Authaal, so that by the time the field reached halfway the combination was over 20 lengths ahead of the others.

Even at this stage it appeared that, unless he folded up, Authaal was not going to be caught, yet the others still did not go chasing. With five furlongs left I Want To Be stepped up the tempo of the chasing group at long last, but into the straight Authaal was still clear.

Authaal passed the post five lengths and one and a half lengths ahead of Faburola and I Want To Be. While excuses can be put forward for the beaten horses, I cannot accept that they were so one-paced as to be unable to keep closer order.

One has become so used to seeing the maroon and white colours carried to success that it is almost a shock to realise that Authaal is the first Group 1-winning colt for Sheikh Mohammed in England, France or Ireland.

A huge attendance, almost double last year’s Saturday figure, appeared to thoroughly enjoy some excellent entertainment. The Tote was up by 40% and most of the layers endured an almost siege-like situation right up to and including the last race.

[Trained by David O’Brien, Authaal was a member of the only crop sired by the ill-fated Shergar. He set a European foal record price of 325,000gns, before setting a new mark for a yearling when he realised 3.1 million guineas, both times at Goffs.

Later sent to Colin Hayes in Australia, Authaal won two more Group 1 races, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Underwood Stakes. At stud in Japan, Authaal sired a single stakes winner from about 200 foals. None of his daughters bred a stakes winner]

Codd’s has six appeal

2011

JAMIE Codd has long been one of Ireland’s leading amateur riders, and a most popular figure on the point-to-point circuit.

A member of a well-known racing family from Mayglass in south Co Wexford, the 29-year-old rider has ridden 458 point-to-point winners before the start of the present season, placing him third on the all-time list behind Derek O’Connor and J.T. McNamara.

Codd’s good-natured rivalry with O’Connor has been a feature of Irish pointing in recent seasons, though the Wexford man has yet to wrest The Irish Field riders’ championship from the perennial Galway champion. However, last Sunday at Tinahely in Co Wicklow, Codd did something that had not been done by another rider at an Irish meeting for 23 years – he rode all six winners on the card.

It was 1988 when this feat was last accomplished, and that was when John (J.A.) Berry did it at the Wexford track, Caim. Interestingly, that was to become the first year that Berry was crowned champion rider. Now a trainer, Berry was present at Tinahely last Sunday. He said: “I was delighted Jamie did it, and thrilled to be there to see it. The only thing is that it makes me feel old, thinking it was 23 years since I did it.”

Tinahely was the only point-to-point scheduled last Sunday, and so most of the top trainers and riders were there to witness history being made. The racing was also competitive, with between seven and 11 runners in each race. Based on starting prices returned by our on-the-spot reporter, the accumulative odds of the six winners came to 454/1.

For a jockey to go through the card at any meeting is extremely rare. Richard Pugh of p2p.ie reports that in 1959 Brian McLernon rode all five winners at a Limerick point-to-point, while in more recent years Adrian Maguire, Derek O’Connor and Mark O’Hare have all ridden six winners in one day, but those meetings had more than six races.

Many casual followers of racing will find it easier to compare Codd’s achievement with that of Frankie Dettori who, on September 28th, 1996 rode all seven winners on the card.

That was Frankie’s Magnificent Seven. This was Jamie’s Super Six.

[Jamie Codd retired from riding in point-to-points in May, 2021. He revealed the news after riding a winner at Tattersalls Farm. He has been The Irish Field champion point-to-point rider on two occasions and his career total of 972 winners between the flags leaves him a clear second on the all-time list behind Derek O’Connor.

A former champion amateur, he has ridden 10 Cheltenham Festival winners and a Grade 1 winner at the Punchestown Festival. Another notable success to come his way was the Fox Hunters’ Chase at Aintree in April of 2016, which he won on the Enda Bolger-trained On The Fringe]

Death of a brilliant rider

1956

MICHAEL Beary, whose death occurred in a London hospital on Monday night after a short illness, was for many years not only one of the leading jockeys in England, but one of the most brilliant riders among such notabilities as Steve Donoghue, Gordon Richards, B Carslake, E.C. Elliott, F Fox, Harry Wragg, R.A. Jones and T Weston.

He was born in Tipperary in December 1895, served his apprenticeship in England with ‘Atty’ Persse, and was still riding last year, while in 1954 he had a mount over hurdles and won his last race on the flat. We find him riding as an apprentice in Ireland in 1913 without being on a winner, and he gained his first success in England on a horse named Hainsby at Bath that year.

After an interval of training, in which he prepared the winner of the 2000 Guineas in 1951, Ki Ming, he returned to the saddle to take the ride on Victory Roll in the Derby of 1953, but finished unplaced. Beary gained his only English Derby success in 1937, on Mrs G.B. Miller’s Mid-Day Sun. He won three other English classic races; Udaipur in the Oaks in 1932, Trigo in the St Leger of 1929, and Ridge Wood in the same race 20 years later.

The genial Irishman had his ups and downs. He could have ridden Trigo and Blenheim, both Derby winners, but chose the wrong mounts in those races. He was injured several times, twice had his licence withdrawn for a short period [for foul riding, and he was later exonerated for the second suspension over alleged involvement in betting], and he was bankrupt three times, but he always came back smiling.

It was Donoghue who really gave him his start, for when Beary was apprenticed to Mr Persse he wanted to ride Hainsby at Bath, and was refused permission to leave the Stockbridge stables by the head lad. Donoghue smuggled him away in his car, took him to the course, and Beary rode his first winner in such dashing style that more mounts soon followed.

[Michael Beary was originally apprenticed in Ireland to Colonel MacCabe, and completed it with Jim Parkinson on the Curragh. He was the champion Irish apprentice in 1915, and five years later was champion jockey in Ireland. He won the Irish Derby three times (Knight Of The Grail, Trigo and Dastur), the Irish Oaks five times and the Irish St Leger once. He also rode as first jockey to the Aga Khan]