THE victory of Cave Court at Ballinrobe on Tuesday was very much a northern success as the winner of the extended two-mile, one-furlong handicap hurdle was bred by Noel McGrady, is trained by Noel Kelly for the TSM Racing Syndicate and was ridden by Orán McGill.

By the recently-deceased Court Cave, the seven-year-old bay, who was recording his fifth career success, is the last of 11 foals out of the unraced Beneficial mare Ben Roseler.

The best of these, to date, have been the multiple blacktype performers Lie Forrit (by Subtle Power) and Oscar Rose (by Oscar).

There were two two flat winners of interest on Saturday. At Haydock, the Clive Cox-trained Archie’s Angel struck on his debut when landing the seven-furlong novice race for two-year-olds by a length.

The Colin Kennedy-bred son of Dark Angel is the first foal out of the winning Big Bad Bob mare Zephyrina, a half-sister to four winners, the most successful of whom was the 2008 Aussie Rules mare Djumama.

At Newbury, the concluding premier fillies’ handicap was won by the Richard Hannon-trained Circe whose only previous win, from five previous starts, came in a two-year-old fillies’ maiden at Doncaster in September.

Bred by McCracken Farms, the Kodiac bay is out of the unraced Sea The Moon mare Northeast Moon, a half-sister to the 2007 Dubawi gelding Prince Bishop who was a dual Group 1 winner in Dubai.

Browne McMonagle’s hot streak

DONEGAL’s Dylan Browne McMonagle rode five winners in the period under review, including two last Saturday at the Curragh.

There, he didn’t win the first race on the card – as seems to be his wont these days - but rather the following Barberstown Castle Sprint Nursery.

The three and a quarter length success came on the Joseph O’Brien-trained Rudi’s Apple, a chesnut colt by No Nay Never. The double came up in the 10-furlong handicap on the O’Brien-trained Puturhandstogether.

Fellow Donegal native Oisin Orr also partnered five winners in the past week, including one last Saturday at Ripon, where Patsy Cosgrave was also on the mark, and one on Wednesday at Catterick where Paddy Mathers also visited the winner’s enclosure. Darragh Keenan partnered his 14th winner of the season at Leicester on Wednesday.

Working backwards over jumps, Simon Torrens won the two-mile beginners’ chase at Wexford on Wednesday, Danny McMenamin struck on Monday in the second race at Cartmel where, on Saturday, Derek Fox won the extended two-mile, one-furlong handicap chase on the Leonard Kerr-trained Sword Of Fate.

The opening race on that card, the two-mile, six-furlong novices’ hurdle was won by the six-year-old Doctor Dino gelding Dinoland who is trained by John McConnell for a quartet of owners comprising himself, Nigel O’Hare, Mark Devlin and Philip Smith.

LIKE others, I was shocked and hugely saddened to learn last Saturday of the sudden death of Dromara trainer Neill McCluskey, who I knew through both racing and eventing.

It was actually on the young event horse circuit that I first spent time talking to Neill who each week during the series, kept pulling out one smart horse after another.

Mainly tall, bay geldings, they usually competed under Neill’s Carsonstown Sporthorses pre-fix and were always beautifully-produced and ridden by the yard’s ‘stable jockey’ at that time, the talented Catherine Robinson.

Although you wouldn’t always know it, he took huge pride in his daughter Robyn, her participation on the Eventing Ireland circuit from her days in pony competitions, allowing him the opportunity to travel all over the country and further afield when Robyn competed internationally.

Tall tale

When it came to point-to-pointing and racing on the track, win or lose, Neill always had a tall tale to tell about his runners. When I spoke to him last October, he was delighted that he had not only saddled the Doyen gelding Moneynabane and the Dylan Thomas gelding Wee Jerry to finish first and second in a handicap hurdle at Downpatrick, but that they did so in his own colours and that he had bred the pair himself.

I wish to extend my sympathy and that of my sister Ann, who delighted in meeting Neill on every occasion, to his wife Denise, daughters Lauren, Robyn and Ann, parents William and Madeline, and siblings Heather, Nigel, Gwyneth and Peter.

THE second half of the 2024 jumps season in the US is slowly getting into gear and it’s good to note that runners leaving Paddy and Leslie Young’s Unionville yard in Pennsylvania are primed for the months ahead.

Last Thursday week at Colonial Downs, Leslie saddled the former Mags Mullins-trained Walk The Warrior, a five-year-old Walk In The Park gelding, to win the two and a quarter mile maiden hurdle by one and a quarter lengths in the hands of Jamie Bargary.

Three days later, trainer and jockey combined to finish second with the six-year-old Shantou gelding Pickanumber in the Grade 1 $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Hurdle. That two-mile, three-furlong handicap was won by the Graham Watters-ridden Ziggle Pops, a seven-year-old British-bred gelding by Zoffany.

Let’s hope that this is a one-off glitch and that there won’t be any further changes for the remainder of the season nor will such changes be a feature of the autumn point-to-point campaign.

Among the thoroughbred horses competing at Glenpatrick today are two Alfred Buller-bred Conduit produce, the six-year-old gelding Groomsman and the year-older mare Mullahoran.