THE North West Racing Board staged their latest fixture near the Donegal coast in scenic Portsalon on Saturday.
Kian McNally continued his blistering form with another treble and the Armagh jockey was finished just in time to watch his home county beat Kerry in the All-Ireland semi-final. Tipperary jockey Sam Coen is also beginning to hit top gear and he completed a fine double for ‘Team Browne’.
Five Stone Of Lead is now beginning to gear up for another trip to the Dingle festival and she had little more than a walk in the park to win the 14.2hh contest from Wee Bucks. The clash with Baby Caro on Dingle’s opening night should certainly be a race to savour.
Little Heart followed up his Athea victory from the previous week with a snug victory in the 10-furlong 15hh race. Teddy Worrell charge was held up on this occasion and came through to lead a furlong down and deny Dare To Dream who was an eye-catcher in second place.
Kian again combined with Teddy Worrell’s Kildare stable to land the two-mile Portsalon Derby with the tough Verstappen.
This one, who had been runner-up to Caro Quintero in Athea, further advertised the strength of that form here with a smooth success over Second Violin and Zoe McMullen.
Three lengths the winning verdict at the line. All roads will now lead back to Dingle for last year’s Derby runner-up and another clash with Caro Quintero.
Good partnership
Sam Coen is striking up a good partnership with the Team Browne yard in Letterkenny and they combined for victories with Shake Me and Check It Out. Shake Me ran out a smooth winner in Bundoran and made every inch of the running here to win the 12-furlong contest under a really well-judged ride.
Adrian Browne quickly nominated the Lee Strand Dingle Derby as the big target with a possible prep run in the mile and six-furlongs race on Friday night.
The Browne and Coen double came courtesy of Check It Out in the mile race. Sam once again timed the fractions to perfection, coming from way off the pace to lead inside the distance for a taking victory. The winner is a possible contender for Dingle’s Golden Mile.
Mullingar jockey Nicola Burns continued her unbeaten association with Little Chief who stormed clear up the straight to win the 14hh race by six lengths. Jimmy Brady’s winner will be one of the real hot pots in Dingle next month.
THE Midlands region returns to action on tomorrow, Sunday, at Drumconrath, Co Meath, with a 1pm start. That will be followed by the Errismore races, Clifton, Co Galway, on Sunday, July 28th, at 1pm.
14HH (1M): 1, J. Brady’s LITTLE CHIEF (Nicola Burns); 2, P. McGill’s SWILLY SPIRIT (Tiernan McGill); 3, Holian Syndicate’s TELL HER NOTHING (Patrick McGettigan).
14.2HH (10F): 1, M. Moloney’s FIVE STONE OF LEAD (Kian McNally); 2, Holian Syndicate’s WEE BUCKS (Julian Pietropaolo).
15HH (10F): 1, I. Worrell’s LITTLE HEART (Kian McNally); 2, Holian Syndicate’s DARE TO DREAM (Sam Coen); 3, McGinley Racing’s DREAM DANCER (Jimmy Dalton).
Open Horse Race (1M): 1, Team Browne’s CHECK IT OUT (Sam Coen); 2, M. Brady’s WHO TOLD YOU (Nicola Burns); 3, P. Smith’s MISSIPPI (Camillus Byrne).
Open Horse Race (12F): 1, Team Browne’s SHAKE ME (Sam Coen); 2, N. McLaughlin’s LEONA’S DREAM (Nicola Burns); 3, F. Byrne’s LINCOLN (Camillus Byrne).
Portsalon Derby (2M): 1, I. Worrell’s VERSTAPPEN (Kian McNally); 2, G. Faulkner’s SECOND VIOLIN (Zoe McMullen); 3, P. Smith’s DOREY’S FORGE (Camillus Byrne).