CATTERICK may not be the handiest place in Britain to get to from Dromara but the North Yorkshire track will forever be a favourite of Caroline McCaldin who saddled her first racecourse winner there on Tuesday.

Ridden by Alain Cawley, It’ll Do Rightly, who runs in the colours of Niall McCarthy, had been off the track for over 400 days when landing the novices’ hurdle by eight lengths as a 7/1 shot. However, on his previous start in October 2016, when the nine-year-old Westerner gelding won a point-to-point maiden at Portrush, he was despatched as the 4/5 favourite.

“I was very, very pleased with the win and delighted for Niall,” said Caroline on Wednesday. “He has owned It’ll Do Rightly horse for three years but the horse keeps picking up niggling injuries and has only had seven runs in total and was making his racecourse debut on Tuesday. He was actually meant to run last week at Ayr and, as I couldn’t go myself, I sent him off with Niall, my husband Alan and Tom McMahon who works with me in the yard. Unfortunately, the meeting was abandoned but the lads all had a great time!”

Caroline only started training during the 2015/16 campaign when she had one winner but she sent out three to score between the flags last season with It’ll Do Rightly being backed up by The Trigger and Theatre One.

“Unfortunately, after winning his maiden, It’ll Do Rightly kept going lame and had problems with abscesses and ulcers so we decided to just let him off until bringing him back in in July.”

Tuesday’s winner is one of three horses Caroline is training for the track this season, with 18 for pointing. McMahon, who used to race-ride himself as did his brother Paul, is helped with the riding out duties by local show jumper Yvonne Whiteside and event rider/artist Micha Gomes. Off injured at present is Mark McCrory who broke his shoulder in a fall last month at Kirkistown.

As the number of horses she has in training has grown, Caroline has cut back on her sport horse activities and recently sold her highly-regarded eventer Black Ice to a Mexican rider. She still has two three-year-old event types to bring on and, like her father Wilson Dennison, always has a hunter or two on the go. “I haven’t had much time to hunt this season but, hopefully, I’ll get out over Christmas along with my daughter Anna (11) who is going to start eventing next year. My son James has absolutely no interest in horses but is rugby mad.”

Caroline may not have known much about Catterick before Tuesday but, after It’ll Do Rightly won his race, she discovered that the journalists covering the meeting knew about her and the horses produced by her father and Colin McKeever at Loughanmore.