CONNECTIONS have officially called time on the career of popular stalwart Peregrine Run, who was hailed by trainer Peter Fahey as “a legend of a horse” for his Monasterevin yard.
A winner of no fewer than 20 races who ran in 10 different calendar years and earned close to €400,000 in prize money, he was a significant flagbearer for the Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer, and owner-breeder Vincent Byrne.
A winner of the Grade 2 Neptune Investment Management Hyde Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham in November 2016, he went on to score 12 times over fences, including off top-weight in the 2019 McHale Mayo National Handicap Chase at Ballinrobe.
In 2019 and 2020, he captured back-to-back runnings of the Grade 3 An Riocht Chase at Killarney, as well as separate listed contests at Limerick and Wexford over hurdles and fences. His first success came all the way back in August 2015 in a Killarney bumper under Katie Walsh, and he added a flat success to his CV at Leopardstown in July 2021.
Peregrine Run’s final victory came at the age of 12 in the £50,000 Native River Handicap Chase at Chepstow two seasons ago, and, while he has not run since December, he was registered on Horse Racing Ireland’s permanently retired racehorse listings this month.
Fahey told The Irish Field: “We can’t say enough good things about Peregrine Run. He was a legend of a horse for our yard. He took us everywhere, from when he was a young horse to later in his career. To be so consistent and win 20 races is unbelievable.
“The Byrnes and Dunnes involved in him are great people, and this horse brought them together when racing at so many of different places. He never let them down and had a great following.”
On what lies next for Peregrine Run at the age of 14, Fahey added: “He’ll stay here and will keep tipping about. He rides out the odd day and had finished up since his last run. My wife Ber would have ridden him 90% of the time through his career, and my daughter Kate will start doing a bit with him as well, so he’ll keep active.”
RETIRED racing journalist John Comyn died peacefully earlier this month, aged 88. He wrote for Independent Newspapers for over 40 years and became the group’s head of sport while continuing to pen racing columns for the Irish Independent and Evening Herald. He attended the Cheltenham Festival for 36 years.
JOCKEY Bryony Frost broke her collarbone in a fall in France at the weekend, it has been announced. She has been riding for owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede since the beginning of May and fell at Le Lion D’Angers.
DUAL Group 1 winner turned sire Ask has died aged 21. Willow Wood Farm, the stud where the horse had spent the past few seasons, said yesterday: “He achieved a lot in his lifetime and we were very proud to have him and have a lot to thank him for. He has bred plenty of winners and we hope he lives on in the progeny he has left.”