THE victory of Wrong Direction in the Loughrea open last Sunday marked a winning return to the pointing fields for the 13-year-old who had not run in this sphere since April 2019.

That is not where the returning theme ends, as his pilot Declan Queally was also returning to that capacity in this sphere for the first time in over three years, making the success all the more notable.

Like many of his weigh-tent colleagues, the Waterford native had elected to make the switch to the professional ranks during Covid, however over three years later changing circumstances have brought about a change of direction for him.

“It had been on my mind for a while because my weight was becoming a bigger and bigger problem for me, and the yard at home was so busy too,” he explained.

“I had turned professional after Covid, and with the influx of horses into the yard at home and being so busy bringing horses to Curraghmore and Portlaw gallops, I was finding it difficult to have the time to actually go and ride the horses in professional races.

Wasn’t working

“I bring six or seven horses galloping every day, so to go and ride in a maiden hurdle, I was gone out of the yard the whole day, I wasn’t watching the horses, I was missing bringing the horses galloping, and it just wasn’t working.

“Then if there was a fancied horse running on the track, I felt that I wasn’t fit enough to ride it because you need to be riding in races all the time, so I wasn’t inclined to ride them.

“My last ride on the track was in the spring, and by then I had it in my head that I wanted to go back to point-to-points, so I consciously said that I would stop riding on the track then.”

A booming business at home is very much at the front and centre of his priorities, with last Sunday’s success marking more of a casual return to race-riding between the flags for him with the stable’s rides set to be shared out between himself, James Fennell, Dylan Phelan, Cathal Sheehan and Ray Barron.

However, there is nothing casual about the Lisroe Farm operation which has reemerged as a leading force on the pointing scene courtesy of a season-ending strike rate in excess of 38% for each of the last two campaigns.

That is a trend which looks set to continue on the early evidence of last Sunday’s Loughrea treble.

“Two seasons ago we had 21 track winners and 10 point-to-point winners, last year we had 13 track and 21 point-to-point winners, so we have trained 65 winners in the last two seasons.

New owners

“We have done really well, we have got new owners in, and existing owners have bought more horses. It’s like a snowball effect really, we have gathered momentum and we have become a strong force through the success that we have had of late.

“My father still has the training licence, but I am a lot more hands on now in the yard, while himself and my mother are very involved in the office.

“My father speaks to a lot of the owners too, so it has become a big system and we all have our own part in it. We have become a bigger unit with success.”

That unit now consists of 50 horses in training across all age groups and divisions, which will ensure results like last Sunday are likely to be repeated in the months to come.

“Last Sunday we won with a four-year-old maiden with a horse that is a big 17hh French-bred and then we won with a 13-year-old in the open.

“It all depends on the owners that are willing to take the chance on us and we’re very grateful to those that have. Whatever horse comes to us, I try to aim it at the right level to get them to perform at their highest level.

Thrive

“Rocky’s Howya is an example of that. He was a maiden at the start of last season and just started to thrive. He grew in confidence and he just had a great season. Whatever horse comes to the yard, I try to make a plan for them and work it out as best as I can with them.”

An injury will unfortunately keep last season’s champion point-to-point horse on the sidelines this year, but the conveyor belt continues to turn with a particularly strong team of young horses this season.

Olympy De Cerisy was the first of the stable’s four-year-old maiden runners this season.

His 16-length victory in Loughrea could be considered something of a statement of their intent within that division, which will be bolstered by a team of 20 three-year-olds that are currently being readied for the spring term.

Despite the stable’s strong start to the season, aspirations of being in a position to press Colin Bowe for the handlers’ title seven months down the line are being tempered.

“We have 50 horses, Colin [Bowe] and Donnchadh Doyle have 100 plus horses and it is a numbers game. Colin could have five or six in the five-year-old and ten entered in every four-year-old maiden.

“He is a brilliant trainer, I rode winners for him and have the utmost respect for him, he is the king. We might rattle away and stay within a couple of winners of him until March, but from then on he will just be in a league of his own.”

OLYMPY DE CERISY (93+) could scarcely have enjoyed a better start to his racing career, as in a strongly-run race at Loughrea which left few hiding places, and resulted in just two horses completing, he was the one horse that was able to sustain the pace to the line. It resulted in him running out a 16-length victor which has to be respected.

Twenty-four hours earlier at Toomebridge, Peggy’s Rock had seemed to be booked for the runner-up spot in the four-year-old mares’ maiden when the twice previously placed Kiltealy Park travelled best into the home straight. However, as she failed to put the race to bed it allowed the game Peggy’s Rock to pounce.

Victory was more easily achieved by the newcomer Caughtinyourtrance (90+), and the fact that he was able to gain a debut success at this venue, which is not the most straightforward test for an inexperienced youngster, is certainly creditable as he won with a bit up his sleeve.