Annaghmore Sunday

ANNAGHMORE Raceway hosted what is becoming the northern highlight of harness racing, the Jack Galway and Gerry Keenan Memorial last weekend.

Furthermore, the inaugural Paul Boyle trophy was up for contest. The card included runners from the Cardiff stable of Lane Dyer, while John Ball from Brentford in London came over to see his runners, which are trained by Paddy Kane in Meath.

The Welsh raiders provide us with our headline, winning a hot Grade E to F pace with Wicked and the feature pace with Messiah.

John Ball and his partner Cassie did the whole Belfast weekend break thing, while a good number of the Dyer and Connors boys boosted the bar takings in The Moy. It’s not quite Arc weekend yet, but it’s a start.

Harness racing is about three things: position, position and position. In the Saturday heat, Messiah drew the ‘seven hole’ and simply could not come round six decent horses.

For the Sunday final, Messiah drew ‘three’ and young driver Jay Matthews was able to stack up the field and save a bit for the stretch. For A Few Pearls More and Alan Wallace jnr finished like a train to force a photo.

An anxious wait ensued until the visitor was announced the winner by the minimum distance and pandemonium broke out.

Welshmen crying

John Roche was acting as compere and teased an emotional Lane Dyer that “you don’t often see Welshmen crying except at the rugby”.

Earlier, Jay Matthews had given Wicked a similar front-running drive to win a Grade E and F pace, dashing the hopes of Bequest (Ciaran Morrison), Battle Fever (Jimmy Stewart) and the second favourite Louis Vutton (Patrick Kane jnr). The Welshmen had a nice touch in the ring (5/4 best to 4/5).

“Go on the ponies,” was the comment from the 22-year-old reinsman, “they’re both only 14.3 hands.” The old saying rings true, if they’re good enough, they’re big enough.

Wicked is from the Merry Go Round/Carousel family of Huw Evans in Tregaron, what a family these have produced! His sire is the great Doonbeg, who was small also.

The Gerry Keenan trot final went to the Banner County, as Paul McInerney’s Italia du Mont made it four wins from her last four runs with the ‘Cooley Magician’, Martin Loughran in the bike.

“I couldn’t tell you just how fast a time this mare will go,” said the normally reticent Loughran. Owner Paul looked overjoyed and the long trip back to Clare would pass quickly.

Harry Knows and Patrick Kane (1/3 to 1/2) enjoyed the fact that they were not trailing the gate in the Free For All trot of €6,400.

Counting their winnings

The combination moved earlier than during the previous week’s win and, although very few took the 1/2, those that did were counting their winnings a long way from the finish line. Graal du Dollar and Jamie Hurley were gallant runners-up again.

Usual driver Daniel McAteer was on holidays, so Patrick Kane jnr got a catch drive on the in-form Gemmail for Jim McAteer. The combination justified favouritism in winning heat one on the Saturday. Italia du Mont and Martin Loughran took the other ‘elimination’ to use an Americanism.

For A Few Pearls More carries the battling genes of the Coleraine-based For A Few Dollars More and was a convincing winner of a Saturday heat for Alan Wallace jnr. It would be nice to see more entries from Newtown Stud in 2025.

Rhyds Superfly seems to like the front end and once Patrick Kane jnr got top in his heat, the result was never in doubt. The 1.59.2 is a sharp clock at Annaghmore in October.

Owner John Ball jnr told The Irish Field: “He is only starting to develop as a five-year-old. We are sending him to the States on October 12th.”

Meadowbranch Teddy has been expensive to follow, but put in a flawless performance to win a little Grade G pace for Patrick Kane jnr.

Patrick Kane jnr had a successful weekend, guiding six winners and that walkover (which counts towards his total). Surely this spurt must put the drivers’ title to bed, especially as nearest rival Jonny Cowden had a rare blank day?

Lieutenant Dan brought his 2024 winnings to €11,000 for owner Jeremiah O’Mahony of Dunmanway and driver Sean Kane from The Naul.

The previous week, Lieutenant Dan broke and Little Miss Sarah trotted. On the day, the mare broke and the gelding trotted. Three-year-old trots are not easy to predict. Both first and second look like nice prospects.

Inspire Me won the Grade E and F Trot convincingly for owners Healy and O’Farrell and trainer/driver Ronan Norton. The Longford farrier has turned the six-year-old inside out.

Kevin Carey from Laois is a relatively inexperienced driver. He gave his own Ayr Paparazzi, the outsider of three, a peach of a drive to beat Messrs Morrison and Richardson (Teddy Camden and Cash All) in the Free For All pace. Kevin will remember his piece of giant-killing in years to come.

Game mare

The Paul Boyle Trophy went to EJ’s Dragoness and Ryan Hanson from Portrush. Ryan’s uncle Eugene owns and the cup was no less than this game mare deserves. The fancied I’m Great Hanover (Alan Wallace jnr) was forced to pull up after breaking a hobble, a freak occurrence which might happen once in a thousand races.

Unfortunately. the Irish Champion Stakes turned up three walkovers, a two-horse race and two three-horse races.

For the record, Fun In The Sun (Gavin Murdock for Bobby Barry) won the three-year-old fillies, but not before Always Be Puffin and Billy Roche gave them a scare. Jamie Hurley’s Benny The Legend is really blooming in the autumn and beat the well-regarded Oakwood Mick in the three-year-old colts.

Ayr Corleone, Churchview Meow, Arts Princess and Ayroplane went through the formalities in 2.03.4, 2.10, 2.03.6 and 2.04.9 respectively. Ayroplane will have a harder task at the York Sales meeting today, as he bids to make it eight wins as a freshman.

Hopefully, these juvenile series will attract more runners in 2024. The prize money is certainly decent.

Racing continues tomorrow, normal 1pm start at Annaghmore Raceway (Junction 13 M1) or eight miles west of Richhill.

Full results and racecards at irishharnessracing.com. Replays can be watched on IHRA Facebook page.



JACK Manning from Limerick passed away on the eve of the Galway/Keenan weekend. He was 65 and succumbed to leukaemia.

The Manning family dealt in all kinds of horses from a yard on the Dublin Road in Limerick. Jack and his brothers inherited their grá for harness racing from their father Paddy.

The Mannings have long been a constant on cards in Munster, Dublin and beyond. Jack was proud of Sweet Jeff, the best horse he ever owned, which he sold well to the USA. Sympathies from all in the sport go to the family.