TAMMYS Hill remains the last winner at the Cheltenham Festival to have been trained in Northern Ireland, and the latest line in the family of the ill-fated 2014 Cheltenham Foxhunters hero was in the winner’s enclosure at Kirkistown, when Kates Hill opened her account in the mares’ maiden.
With the form of her three-length defeat at Curraghmore last month having received a timely boost when her conqueror, Getawayrooney, won again at Turtulla, the daughter of Jeremy was the clear form pick for the race.
She duly dismissed the challenge of the promising newcomer Justwest from the back straight to win by four lengths in the colours of her owner-breeder Patrick Smyth.
The five-year-old is the last line of the family that connections have to Tammys Hill, with her dam, Hillmar having died while foaling. Trained in Downpatrick by Patrick Turley, she could now contest a bumper.
Her success formed the opening leg of a double on the card for rider Declan Lavery who later teamed up with George Stewart’s Ringneill to claim the winner-of-one contest.
Famed for providing Mark O’Hare with one of his final winners in the pointing field when she opened her account at Farmacaffley last February, the daughter of Flemensfirth showed the clear benefit of her return run at Loughbrickland seven days earlier.
Once being produced up the inner at the penultimate obstacle, she was able to pull nine lengths clear of the Moira winner Merrion Avenue without having to be asked for anything close to maximum effort. “She is a fine big 16.2hh mare that has plenty of scope. Her owner Siobhan Mackinnon will probably breed from her in time but she will keep going in winners races,” said Rory Lavery representing the winning handler.
WICKLOW raiders Brian Lawless and Peter Croke achieved something of rare feat on the card when they sent out the half-brothers Carrig Sam and Carrig Rock to claim two of the six races.
The former followed up the promise that he had shown when falling at the final fence at Tattersalls four weeks earlier in the race won by the €470,000 seller Ginto to claim the opening four-year-old maiden. Shaken up exiting out of the back straight, the Shantou gelding stuck to his task gamely to overhaul the long-time leader Jet Plane in the dying strides to prevail by half a length, with the Glenealy-based Croke indicated that he would now likely be sold.
Both siblings were sporting the colours of their breeder Maurice Sheehy, who is incidentally also Croke’s landlord, and he had enjoyed Grade B success at the Punchestown Festival with their dam Carrig Millie back in 2013.
She has now made the perfect start to her new career in the breeding paddocks with her first foal, Carrig Rock, taking the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.
The Shirocco gelding was certainly not winning out of turn as his seven-length victory followed up two placed efforts earlier in the autumn at Moira and Loughanmore, and he also confirmed his superiority over the runner-up Russell’s Square, who had also chased him home at the Co. Antrim venue four weeks earlier.
THE return of On The Sod continued David Christie’s fine run of form of late, as his success in the open was a third straight winner to have emerged from his Derrylin yard following the victories of stablemates Ask D’Man and Some Man a week earlier.
Placing his unbeaten record on the line, the eight-year-old, who had ended last season with victory in a hunter chase at Downpatrick, was headed exiting out of the back straight by a back-to-form Poli Roi.
However, Barry O’Neill’s charge battled back to come upsides on the outer of Poli Roi at the last as that rival departed, leaving him to return five lengths to the good over the final-fence casualty’s stablemate Coastal Tiep.
Victory
The success was a fifth straight victory for the Kieran Mahon and Noel Keenan-owned son of Ask who was acquired having been advertised on DoneDeal in the period after winning his maiden at Dromahane in late 2018.
Confident
The winning handler, whose strike rate is edging close to 50%, noted that winning rider Barry O’Neill was confident that he had the measure of Poli Roi before he departed and suggested that a campaign of opens and winners’ hunter chases now beckoned for the eight-year-old.
Outside The Ring, who had chased home the aforementioned Ask D’Man at Portrush last month, made that form count when running out a convincing winner of the older geldings’ maiden to provide 21-year-old rider Oran McGill with his second success between the flags.
Rated 113 over hurdles having finished second at Down Royal on St. Stephen’s Day, the Christine McKnight-owned eight-year-old crossed the line with five lengths to spare over the long absent Greco.
“He has a high mark on the track so he will stay pointing for now as he would have to carry heavy weights during the winter and then we will look at going back to the track in the spring,” said the winning Banbridge-based handler Neil McKnight.
JIM McLoughlin, a stalwart of the North Down point-to-point, was remembered ahead of racing on Saturday following his passing in September. The former Chairman and Clerk of the Course was not only instrumental in the hunt’s move to Kirkistown but also enjoyed success in the pointing fields as an owner. Mill View won for him at Loughbrickland in the late 1980s under Rosemary Stewart and he was also associated with the talented hunter chaser Ten Poundsworth.
His regular rider Leo Gracey was incidentally working at Saturday’s fixture as an IHRB official.
Horse to follow:
Jet Plane (C.W.J Farrell): This four-year-old is the latest individual in the first crop of Jet Away to show particular promise as he lead all the way to the dying strides, only to lose out close home.