CONDITIONS were testing for both man and beast at last Saturday’s Tynan & Armagh point-to-point in Farmacaffley where there were five northern-trained winners on the six-race card.
Providing Killylea handler Marshall Watson with his third success in the Mullan Family confined hunt race in six seasons, the seven-year-old Dansant gelding Danjaman also gave Wexford rider Barry O’Neill the first leg of a four-timer when scoring by four lengths from the only other finisher, the McConville family’s Boogily Lane.
Danjaman was bred by Mullingar’s Noel Collins out of the Torus mare Boolavogue, a full-sister to the eight-time winner Flash The Cash. The bay, who is due to represent the Watson yard in the hunters’ chase on Randox Ulster National day at Downpatrick next month, is a half-brother to the three-time track winner, The Shepherd King (by Marignan).
Already this season we have had many opportunities to write about Templepatrick trainer Warren Ewing who had a good start to last weekend, sending out the top-priced lot at Cheltenham on Friday (£215,000 for the Tyrella maiden winner Only The Bold) and saddling Ranieri (by Westerner) to land the McKinney Motors five-year-old geldings’ maiden at Farmacaffley.
David Christie is another who has been racking up the winners and he recorded a double at the Tynan & Armagh meeting through John Hegarty’s six-year-old Winged Love gelding Winged Leader in the Armagh Construction open and his own eight-year-old Ask gelding On The Sod in the WHR Accountants winners of two.
On Sunday at Tinahley, the Christie-trained Eddies Miracle brought up an open four-timer in the colours of Belfast’s Ray Nicholas.
Joining Watson in getting off the mark for the season at Farmacaffley was Lisburn-based George Stewart who saddled Siobhan McKinnon’s Ringneill to land the Donnelly Brothers Dungannon mares’ maiden in the hands of Mark O’Hare.
The Flemensfirth bay pulled up on her only start late last season but was placed on each of her three previous outings this term before gaining her brackets on Saturday.
Surprisingly, Ringneill wasn’t bred by Newtownards-based Siobhan herself but down in Co Cork by Frank Motherway. The six-year-old is out of the unraced King’s Theatre mare Lizzy Langtry, a half-sister to the Grade A Guinness Handicap Hurdle winner Farmer Bob (by Bob Back) and dam previously of three track winners including the listed-placed Robin Des Champs mare, Mardale.
Ringneill was led up on Saturday by Lucy Arthur who regularly helps out at the Stewart yard when not working, as she has done for 16 years, for Templeton Robinson Estates Agents in Belfast.
Her full-time job often requires her to work at weekends but, when not doing that or leading up for George, Lucy has been taking part in the Baileys Horse Feeds Flexi Eventing Series at the Meadows Equestrian Centre outside Lurgan.
Her mount has been her ex-racehorse Bel Cavallo who was placed second once and third three times between the flags from 11 starts over three seasons. The nine-year-old British-bred gelding is by Robin des Pres out of the Definite Article mare Broomhill Lady whose 2014 gelding by Morozov, Uno Mas, has won six times for the Christian Williams yard.
“I would like to move the horse on as he’s wasted with me as I can only work and compete him around my job,” said Lucy who does admit that she has been enjoying the Flexi Eventing series. “He’s a tall horse, around 16.2hh, but is very well balanced, nice to ride and is now ready to go eventing.”
Tikkanen delight
NORTHERN-bred track winners were few and far between in the period under review but we were delighted to see that one horse who did get his head in front in the extended two-mile handicap chase at Thurles last Thursday week was the James Dullea-owned and trained Tikkanen Express.
The nine-year-old Tikkanen gelding was bred at his Brentford Stud near Comber by David Mitchell and is the seventh of eight foals out of Another Sparkle.
From the family of Wounded Warrior and Sword Of Destiny, that Bustino mare is dam of two other winners in A Touch Of Sparkle (by Golan) and Indy Island (by Indian Danehill).
Tikkanen Express, who has had a couple of ‘career breaks’ in his time, has now won a hurdle and three chases.
Prior to Thursday, his last success had come in a handicap chase at Punchestown in October 2018 after which he was off for 418 days before reappearing in a handicap hurdle at Cork in early December.
He then finished fifth of 16 in a handicap chase at Leopardstown’s St Stephen’s Day meeting before running at Thurles.
While Downpatrick’s Thomas Foy is now concentrating on breeding flat horses rather than National Hunt, you could say that Birds Of Prey fell between two stools when he won what was named the Visit Novibet Casino “Jumpers’ Bumper” National Hunt Flat Race on the Tapeta surface at Wolverhampton last Sunday.