DOING some digging in the files recently I happened upon the result of the bumper on the first day of the Leopardstown Christmas meeting 50 years ago. With no Sunday racing back then, the meeting was staged on Monday, December 27th.

At first I was intrigued by the winning rider, a certain Mr B Hanbury. More of him later. My eye then scanned down the list of riders who chased him home and I realised that I recognised all 15 who rode. Thirteen of them were amateurs, as you might expect, but they also included two professionals – that year’s champion National Hunt jockey Ben Hannon, and the multiple champion flat jockey Liam Ward, associated with so many great horses but especially Nijinsky.

The winner was, most appropriately, named Christmas Cheer and at a starting price of 6/1 he most certainly proved to be that for some punters. He was owned by Mrs C P Bellairs and trained by Dan Moore. That same owner/trainer combination raced Veuve with great success and he won both the Thyestes and Troytown Chases with Arthur Moore riding.

Less than a length behind Christmas Cheer was the Peter Heron owned and ridden Vulkab. Sixteen years earlier Peter was in the saddle when his family’s Barberstown Prince was sent off as favourite and landed the Galway Hurdle. Ben Hannon, who featured in this column recently was third on Buacaill Breage, six lengths back, but he was fully five lengths ahead of Liam Ward on Dick McIlhagga’s Terossian. Liam, one of the most stylish flat jockeys ever, had to carry 12 stone that day! Professional riders carried a 7lb penalty.

Ben Hanbury was attached to the Dan Moore yard, no doubt learning the craft that would one day bring him success at the highest echelons of the flat. Among the good horses he trained were the 1000 Guineas and Oaks heroine Midway Lady, the Airlie/Coolmore Irish 1000 Guineas winner Matiya, the Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Twafeaj, the surprise Dewhurst Stakes winner Kala Dancer and Batshoof, winner of both the Tattersalls Rogers Gold Cup and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes before they were Group 1s.

Peter McCreery rode in the race and while he had no luck in the saddle, he had started the day well by training the winner of the opening handicap hurdle, On Safari, with Cathal Finnegan aboard. On Safari was a horse that was very successful for McCreery when he started training and other well-known horses he trained included Daring Run, Hilly Way, Seskin Bridge, Bonne and Castleruddery.

John Bryce-Smith went on to enjoy success as a trainer, most famously with the Galway Plate winner Spittin’ Image and the good hurdler Mwanadike. E J ‘Ned’ Cash partnered Alcor, trained by Ruby Walsh, father of Ted, and racing in the colours of Ruby’s brother Ted.

Al O’Connell was another to go on to enjoy success as a trainer, winning an Irish Champion Hurdle with Classical Charm and the Pretty Polly Stakes with Claire’s Slipper. The names Kevin Prendergast and Arthur Moore surely need no introduction and between them they have enjoyed lots of success at the highest level on the flat and over jumps.

Russellstown Stud owner and breeder of No More Heroes Peter Downes rode in the race, as did Cecil Ronaldson. The latter was champion amateur in 1959 and landed the amateur handicap at Galway twice, for Charlie Weld in 1960 and Mick Connolly six years later. Barry Brogan, than an amateur, was down the field but he shared the amateur title that year with Francis Flood. The latter shared the title twice and won it outright on five other occasions,

Jodie McGrath, a son of Seamus, was on board Eskimo in the race and he was later to enjoy success as an owner with one of the people he rode against, namely Kevin Prendergast. Jodie also has a footnote in history. A year and a half earlier he rode, as an amateur, in the Irish Sweeps Derby won by Santa Claus (are you sensing a Christmas theme?) and this was something that had not happened for nearly half a century.

Last to finish was John Harty, though earlier in the day he too had visited the winner’s enclosure on Indian Snow who won the Three-Year-Old Hurdle, trained by his father Captain Cyril Harty.

The winner was bred by Alan Lillingston who rode a Champion Hurdle winner and became a most succesful breeder at Mount Coote Stud.

Second day

The two-day Leopardstown Christmas meeting in 1965 saw the second day deferred for 24 hours due to adverse weather conditions. The ground on the Monday was described as yielding, while two days later it was listed as heavy. Six races were again run and the Avoca Flat Race was the last on the card.

Only three of the amateurs who rode on Monday took part this time, including Barry Brogan who partnered Major George Ponsonby’s Stonehaven to a six-length win over Man Of The West, ridden by the recently deceased Cecil Ross. Bunny Cox was third on Silvertrix, while Dermot Weld was in the saddle on the fourth-placed Must Flame.

The winner Stonehaven, a five-year-old son of Limekiln out of Inn’s Quay, was trained by Tom Dreaper and was making his racecourse debut. He started at 2/5, with Must Flame the next best in the betting at 8/1. This was the first of 10 career victories for the winner who also won over hurdles and seven times over fences, including both the Express Chase and Newbury Spring Chase.

Kevin Prendergast and Peter McCreery rode in this bumper also and were joined at the start by David Patton, Francis Flood, John Daly and Andrew McMurrough Kavanagh.