ONE would imagine that after two hectic Sundays, Anita O’Donoghue, who works in accounts at the Irish Pony Club, will be putting her feet up tomorrow, relaxing at home.
Last Sunday, Anita was helping at the IPC’s Conlan Defender-sponsored national Tetrathlon championships at Punchestown while, seven days earlier, she and husband Paddy were at the Curragh, where their daughter Alannah, an orthopaedic sports therapist, made her racing debut in the Corinthian Challenge Charity Race.
Better known in show jumping circles, Alannah rides out for Ballinure trainer Hilary McLoughlin, but at the Curragh, and thanks to the networking of Heather Heffernan, the 23-year-old finished eighth on the James Fahey-trained Derby De Thaix, who was sent off at odds of 80/1.
Also on hand to support the racing debutante were her four sisters and her boyfriend, amateur jockey James Murphy. He, we are told, was somewhat distracted by his phone, where he was watching his home county Cork playing in – and dare we say losing – the All-Ireland hurling final against Clare.
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