BEFORE the flag is dropped for the first race at Downpatrick on Wednesday, July 13th, there could be plenty of exhausted parents and guardians wandering dazed around the enclosure as Family Fun Raceday returns to the Co Down track.

Racecourse manager Richard Lyttle and his team are organising ‘Falconry Displays, Childrens Discos and Talent Competitions, Animal Farm, Dog Agility, Kids Races, Funfair Rides, Horse Education Station and much, much more’. Inspired by Carlsberg, and with further abundant use of capital letters, the meeting is being promoted as ‘Probably The Best Family Fun Raceday Anywhere!’

Fun day

Downpatrick native Caitriona MacNabb had a fun day of her own on Tuesday at Sligo where her husband, the in-form Billy Lee, partnered her Invincible Spirit gelding Inventor to victory in the six-furlong handicap. The five-year-old Godolphin-bred bay is trained by Lee’s sister, Gillian Scott.

The featured Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Race for three-year-olds and upwards at the western track was won by the Andy Oliver-trained, J.P. Ledwidge-owned Band Width who was making his fourth public appearance.

This was a second win from three starts over six furlongs for the grey son of Gutaifan and his first since being gelded following a disappointing run on his handicap debut at Naas in early May.

Saint-Cloud

On the same afternoon, but at Saint-Cloud in France, the mile-and-four conditions race for three-year-olds on the turf track was won by the André Fabre-trained, Mickael Barzalona-ridden 17/10 favourite Galashiels who was winning for the second time in three outings.

This chesnut Australia colt, who scored on his debut at Deauville in early April before finishing second roughly five weeks later at Fontainebleau, was bred by Stonethorn Stud Farms out of the winning Duke Of Marmalade mare Glenmayne, a sister to eight winners including Millisle.