THE West Waterfords race at Tallow tomorrow, taking on day two of the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown and the points at Ballinaboola and Belharbour.

Back in 1978, the foxhounds had the day to themselves when getting the season underway at Glencairn on January 29th. This was a red letter occasion for Eleanor Broderick who recorded her first success when landing division two of the six-year-old and upwards maiden on her uncle Tom’s Baobab, a mare by Bargello.

“Up to two years before then, I had been working in England and was loving it over there,” recalled Eleanor. “However, my late father (Donal) wanted me home to work on the farm and he kind of bribed me to do so by telling me that he’d always have a nice horse for me to ride.

“Tom was a vet in Dublin and was very friendly with the Heron brothers who bred Baobab out of Barberstown Lass. Ted Walsh, whose late father Ruby was very friendly with my father, was riding at Tallow that day and was the first to congratulate me after I won by a distance and the same. I rode three winners in total, the last when I was four months pregnant!

“Baobab never won again but I did finish second on her in a bumper and rode her in hunter chases. She didn’t breed much of note herself but her unraced daughter Forest Gale (by Strong Gale) bred a good few winners including Joe Lively (by Flemensfirth) who won a point-to-point, two hurdles and seven chases until being fatally injured at Cheltenham.

BANK MANAGER

“When my father died in 1995, I decided to get rid of some of the older mares and buy something new and I cleared it with the local bank manager. I went up to Tattersalls and bought Von Carty but when the bank manager saw the cheque being cleared for 7,800 guineas he nearly had a fit and brought me in to discuss it. I think he thought I was going to buy a cob at Tallow Fair!”

The bank manager must have been pleased in the end with Broderick’s purchase as the 1989 Supreme Leader mare Von Carty produced 10 foals, although just two of them were colts. The first of the 10 was the ill-fated Woodys Deep Ocean (by Be My Native) who died as a seven-year-old having won a bumper and two hurdles and being Grade 2 placed, while one of the mares was Supreme Von Pres, dam of the Flemensfirth brothers Closing Ceremony and Highland Lodge among others.

While Eleanor is delighted to host one or two point-to-points each year at her Ballyarthur farm, son Daniel doesn’t share her interest in the horses so she is pinning her hopes on pony-mad granddaughter Aoife, who is five, in carrying on the tradition.

The first race at Tallow back in 1978, a ‘confined maiden hunt race’, was won by the Nicky Dee-ridden Barney Lad who scored by three lengths from Abbey Flyer. The latter’s partner that day, Tom Busteed, is still riding competitively but to see how he got on last Sunday you will have to read the Pony Tales column in the Irish Horse World section of this paper.