MANY congratulations to Sam Ewing who recorded his first Cheltenham Festival success last Friday afternoon in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle on the Gordon Elliott-trained Stellar Story.

And what a ride the 20-year-old Ballyclare jockey gave the Gigginstown House Stud-owned Shantou gelding, getting the 33/1 shot up in the final strides to beat the longtime leader, The Jukebox Man, by a head.

If Sam’s father Warren was disappointed that Constitution Hill, the star equine graduate to date of his Bernice Stables, failed to line up to defend his title in Tuesday’s Champion Hurdle, he was more than compensated by being on hand to greet his son back in the winner’s enclosure on Friday. Wife and mother Deborah followed the action from home.

And to cap off the Festival for the Ewing family, the final race, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle was won by the Elliott-trained Better Days Ahead.

On his only start for Warren, this Milan bay landed a four-year-old geldings’ maiden in late February 2022 at Lisronagh where he was ridden by Dara McGill.

At Down Royal on St Patrick’s Day, Ewing junior marked his return to Ireland with victory in the opening Bluegrasshorsefeed.com Maiden Hurdle on the Noel Meade-trained 5/4 favourite, Faulty.

Dara also partnered a winner on Sunday’s card, landing the Bluegrass Mare Prepare Hunters’ Chase on the Emmet Mullins-trained 1/2 favourite, Romeo Magico.

Winning ride

Coalisland’s Anna McGuinness came in for a winning spare ride in division one of the Powered By Bluegrass Handicap Hurdle on the 25/1 shot Perfect Pupil who is trained by his Portadown owner, Stephen McConville, the only local handler to strike on the eight-race card.

The next meeting at Down Royal, the Fibrus Family Race Day, takes place on Sunday, April 14th.

Before then of course, on Sunday, April 7th, the Randox Ulster National meeting opens the season at Downpatrick and readers should check out the track’s social media pages for information.

WITH no local meeting last Saturday, it wasn’t easy to find any Northern Ireland-connected winners on the Irish point-to-point scene over the weekend but we did spot one at the North Kilkenny Foxhounds’ meeting in Ballyragget.

There, the novice riders’ open was won by the Declan Queally-trained, Cathal Sheehan-partnered Don’t Matter Now who was winning for the fourth time in five starts this season. The nine-year-old Ask gelding, who fell last time out at Aghabullogue, was bred by Stephen Magee out of the Montelimar mare Tullyfoyle, dam also of the four-time track winner Achimota (by Double Eclipse) and the three-time track winner Leggy Lad (by Denel).

On Sunday, Don’t Matter Now scored by two and a half lengths from the recent Lingstown banks’ race winner De Nordener whose rider, Downpatrick amateur Toni Quail, led up the top-priced lot at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Festival Sale, Correna Bowe’s Echoing Silence.

British points

In Britain, where many fixtures have been postponed or even abandoned due to the weather, there were three meetings on Saturday and one on Sunday at Brafield-On-The-Green.

There, the former Colin McKeever-trained Elmdale, who was placed three times in Wilson Dennison’s colours in 2019, finally got off the mark at the age of 10 in the opening maiden where he was ridden by Zac Baker.

Five of the seven races at Milborne St Andrew on Saturday were won by horses carrying an IRE suffix including the Jane Buchanan-bred Glenmount who justified 4/6 favouritism by four lengths under James King in the restricted.

This was a second successive win, following two successive seconds, since he was sold across the water for the six-year-old Court Cave half-brother to the multiple winners Windsor Avenue (by Winged Love) and Ravenhill Road (by Exit To Nowhere).

DANNY McMenamin, who had one ride at the Cheltenham Festival (finishing ninth in Wednesday’s history-making Grade 1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper on the Paddy Corkery-bred, Jimmy Moffatt-trained Union Avenue) has partnered three winners since then.

The Downpatrick native recorded a quickfire double last Thursday week at Hexham which he completed in the handicap chase on the Henry Hogarth-trained Largy Train who, under Brian Hughes, won a bumper at Ayr in May 2021 on his only start for Stuart Crawford.

McMenamin’s third win came at Haydock on Wednesday where he partnered the 2/1 favourite, President Scottie, to victory for his boss, Nicky Richards.

Brian Hughes, whose wife Luci saddled two winners at the Hurworth point-to-point at Hutton Rudby on Saturday, also returned to the No 1 spot three times in the period under review, striking first on Friday at Fakenham where he landed the three-mile handicap chase on the Micky Hammond-trained Ballylinch.

This was a second win over fences for the seven-year-old Califet gelding who was bred by Katrina Mackie out of the once-raced Yeats mare Moll Magee.

11 runs

Ballylinch ran in 11 point-to-points in this country in the colours of Katrina’s father Wilson Dennison, Colin McKeever saddling the bay to win a Farmacaffley maiden under Dara McGill in February 2023.

Incidentally, the following race at Fakenham on Friday, the long distance handicap chase, was won by the Christian Williams-trained 4/6 favourite Ballyrashane who won a five-year-old geldings’ maiden at Damma House in November 2022 for Dennison, McKeever and Cormac Abernethy.

Back to Hughes, who successfully joined forces with Hammond again on Tuesday at Wetherby, where Carrigeen Castle won the near two and a half-mile handicap chase.

The reigning champion British jumps jockey then moved on to the 104 mark for the season when landing the opening handicap chase at Market Rasen on Wednesday on the Hammon-trained Brickadank.

On the flat, there were wins for Darragh Keenan at Chelmsford last Thursday week and for Dylan Browne McMonagle and Luke McAteer the following evening at Dundalk. At that Co Louth track, the extended 10-furlong handicap was won by the eight-year-old Dark Angel gelding Walhaan who was bred by Brian and Ann Marie Kennedy out of the Dutch Art mare Back In The Frame.

THE Route Hunt, or Route Harriers as they were then called, held their 1994 point-to-point on Easter Tuesday, April 5th, at Limavady, where there were seven races with the maiden being split.

Division one was landed by Brian Hamilton on Michael Ryan’s homebred Master Miller who was to later win four races on the track including a handicap hurdle at Dundalk where he was ridden by one A.P. McCoy shortly before ‘The Champ’ moved to England.

John Quinn, who won division two on John Brown Kerr’s Greenmount Lad, had to settle for second in the confined hunt race behind Hamilton on David Christie’s Must Stay.

A double was also recorded by owner Maureen Wilson whose River Magnet was partnered to victory in the unplaced maiden by Colin McBratney while her Island Chief claimed the winners’ of two under Paul Humphries.

There were wins also for James McGurgan on John Woods’ Little Denzil and for Rodney Arthur on Barbara Mercer’s Neda Charmer.

Still running at Limavady in 2004, the Route meeting that year was held on Saturday, March 27th, when there were rare wins in the Northern Region for Colin Motherway (on Ronnie Bartlett’s Soldati in the opening 18-runner maiden) and for Pat Fahey (on Theresa McAloon’s Chill Out in the winners’ of one).

Robert Widger, who finished a close-up second in the opener, went on to land the older geldings’ maiden on Claire Gannon’s Seymour Acres.

Jimmy Henry won division one of the mares’ maiden on Neil Gordon’s Persian Silk while Johnny Vance partnered his own Ninaprettyballerina to victory in division two.

On board Roy Carlisle’s Gardrum Park, J.D. Moore came from off the pace to land the eight-runner four-mile open (22 fences), beating the Tommy Peoples-ridden Bluefire by half a length. Peoples came out to win the following two-runner hunt race by a distance on John Hegarty’s Finoel.