MEATH trainer Hugh Finegan always thought his mare Lady Bluebird had a good chance of landing a Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies bonus of €5,000 but if you asked him in what discipline, his last prediction would have been a bumper, not least in the middle of winter.

The daughter of Retirement Plan was initially campaigned during the summer but Finegan’s nephew Eoghan, who has ridden her on all six starts, was pretty adamant she needed to run on soft ground.

It wasn’t ideal in the trainer’s mind.

“She ran well in a Galway bumper but Eoghan was keen to get her on soft ground,” Finegan recalls of the mare, bred by Willie Moran. “I was just thinking, surely we’d have a better chance of winning a summer bumper compared to a winter bumper but since we’ve got her on soft ground, she really has proven herself.

“She ran a big race on heavy ground at Naas in November (second to Fleur Au Fusil) and it was my fault for her bad run at Thurles, an easy two miles on yielding ground, it was just too sharp for her.”

Back on soft ground at Punchestown, in the last race on the 2023 Irish racing calendar, Lady Bluebird came good, getting the better of a sustained battle with the Gordon Elliott-trained Instant Tendance. Not only was it an extra nice win because of the bonus, but also a first win on the track for Eoghan,

“Sure it was brilliant,” said Finegan. “Eoghan comes in here and only for him, Neil Ryan and Finn Tegetmeier, I wouldn’t have the operation running at all. Eoghan had four winners ridden in point-to-points so it was great to see him get off the mark on the track, and great to see the mare win.

“She showed a great attitude to get her head down and get the win. To be honest with you, I think she has a real good chance to win the two other bonuses (over hurdles and fences) because she’s a good solid stayer and she jumps well. I’d have said her least likely chance to win a bonus would have been in a bumper, but she has that in the bag now.”

Farmer

Finegan is a farmer by trade and trains on a restricted licence. Most notably he trained the dual winner Futurum Regem, who took the Grade B Tara Handicap Hurdle at his local track in Navan. Training has always been a hobby for him but in the last couple of years, Eoghan, Neil and Finn have been working hard to develop the output from the yard.

“The lads all work with Noel Meade,” Finegan explains. “We ride out here early and they go off to Noel’s and then come back here to finish them off around lunch time. It’s always been a hobby but we put in a gallop a couple of years ago and the lads are keen to kick things on and up our game. As long as they are keen to do it, so am I. We’ve a few nice young horses so hopefully, all going well, we will have a little bit of luck.”

Lady Bluebird gave Finegan his second bonus after Gemma’s Flame won a mares’ bumper for him at Fairyhouse in 2018. Naturally, he is a big fan of the scheme.

“It’s a brilliant scheme and I put every mare into it,” he said. “It’s a no brainer. You shouldn’t be training them if you don’t think they’re worth the 200 quid to put them in the bonus. It’s a great scheme. The only thing is they are getting harder to win because more people have mares in training now, but that’s a good thing of course, and long may it continue.”