AS the Suffern family’s Tullyraine House Stud is due to open its doors to the general public for the 2022 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Irish Stallion Trail in mid-January, it was good to see First Flow make a winning seasonal debut in the Grade 2 Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon on Sunday.

The Kim Bailey-trained nine-year-old, who is flagbearer for Tullyraine House’s American-bred resident stallion Primary, didn’t put in the most fluent round of jumping but still comfortably beat Funambule Sivola.

Until his run came to an end in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham, First Flow recorded a six-timer over fences last season highlighted in January by his win in the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

McNally strikes again

With a totally dissimilar profile, the Ronan McNally-trained Vee Dancer landed the extended two-and-a-half-mile conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle at that same Huntingdon meeting under Kevin Brogan.

The six-year-old Morozov gelding, who went off as the 1/2 favourite, had never been placed in eight previous outings on the track although he had finished second in a point-to-point maiden at Dromahane last October when trained by Ciaran Fennessy.

First start

Also on Sunday, but at Cork, the former Stuart Crawford-trained Largy Debut won the two-mile maiden hurdle on his first start for Henry de Bromhead.

Now running in the colours of Chris Jones and ridden by Keith Donoghue, the six-year-old Shirocco gelding won an Oldcastle maiden in February 2020 for then owners Martin McGrogan and Raymond Scullion after which he was purchased in a deal conduction by Kevin Ross Bloodstock. He was still trained by Crawford when finishing third in a bumper at Navan the following month when, as he had been at Oldcastle, he was ridden by the trainer’s brother Ben.