THE 11-year-old Welsh rider Ed Vaughan, son of jumps trainer Tim, has been a regular visitor to the Irish horse and pony racing circuit over the last two seasons where he has amassed a regular haul of winners in the pony classes.

At the recent Omey Beach meeting he looked to have registered his first winner in the horse class on Ciderman only to lose the race in the stewards’ room. However, last Sunday he put this behind him and went on to get the breakthrough winner in the most famous race on the circuit, the Dingle Derby, as he partnered Ciderman to victory and in doing so became the youngest ever winning rider, an honour previously held by Dylan Browne-McMonagle.

The winner is part-owned by well-known bloodstock agent Tom Malone who was present along with the winning rider’s father.

Ed sat in third spot through the early stages of the race before hitting the front three furlongs out in the smaller-than-normal 10-runner field. As they swung into the straight with just over a furlong to run there were just three realistic contenders: Ciderman, Remember Me and Mr Bowen.

Ciderman and Remember Me soon drew away and, even though the John Mulvihill ridden Remember Me got his head in front well inside the final furlong, Ciderman dug deep for one final effort as the pair flashed by the line together.

After the closest Derby finish for many years Ciderman was adjudged to have prevailed by a head to provide Shanahoe, Co Laois owner/trainer Seamus Bergin with his third Dingle Derby winner following on from those of Dinn Ri in 1998 and 2000.

All participating riders in the 2019 Dingle Derby pose for the camera before the big race \ Healy Racing

Cleary success

Indeed there was a certain symmetry to the day as in 1998 Dinn Ri was ridden by Sean Cleary, and earlier in the afternoon, the 14.2hh Irish Pony Derby over 12 furlongs went to Harpers Pet who was ridden by Sean Cleary-Farrell, the son of Sean Cleary.

Young Sean led from four furlongs out and stretched clear as the recent Ballyconneely winner gave the rider his second winner from only a handful of rides, with Seamus Bergin’s Waratah taking the runner-up spot.

Harpers Pet’s previously raced under rules as Greanta and, trained by Tom Cleary, won the Roscommon race named in memory of Sean, with his brother Rory on board.

Another brother, Thomas, now trains Harper’s Pet, who is owned by Joeleen Lynch.

Philip

Byrnes, who had to settle for third place in the Derby on last year’s winner Mr Bowen, had the consolation of riding a treble.

Two of the winners were for Declan and Kyle McGuigan, starting with Way Up North in the 10-furlong opener.

Philip gave the winner a fine front-running ride where he set the fractions to perfection with none of their rivals getting in a blow.

The McGuigan/Byrnes combination also took the second division of the mile race when Who Knows carried his winner’s penalty for Saturday successfully. Philip also took the 12-furlong 15hh race on Undercover for the Finnertys, hitting the front inside the final furlong to win from Sky’s The Limit.

No whips

Ballinasloe, Co Galway based Tony Beegan has bred generations of the smaller racing ponies and he took the 12.2hh Derby with Little Maxie. English rider Zac Kent did the steering. This race is now run as a hands and heels race with riders not allowed to carry whips.

Zac delivered his challenge inside the final 100 yards to win from the Conor Walsh ridden South of the Border.

Daniel King made it a winner on each of the three days of the fixture when he rode All Star to take the mile race for Maurice Ahern. Always in a prominent position, Daniel was a couple of lengths clear at half-way and, although headed inside the distance, they got back up again for a narrow win over Under Pressure.

Sam Ewing, who won the Dingle Derby in 2017, added a Dingle Leading Rider Award to his C.V. with seven winners.

Sam Ewing was the leading rider at the meeting with seven winners \ Healy Racing

His final success came in the first division of the consolation race over 12 furlongs where Mary McAndrews’s West Boots saw off the challenge of the Brian Barry ridden Not Now Ned.

The closing race of the meeting was the second division of the consolation race and it saw the Gearoid Brouder-ridden The Boss and the Darragh McGill-partnered Movina’s Boy draw clear of the remainder with The Boss consigning Movina’s Boy to a second runner-up finish of the weekend.