IN a year of special celebration for the McArdle family of Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, the gauntlet was thrown down to trainer John McConnell to source a smart National Hunt horse - and he looks to have delivered just that.

It was a thoroughly likeable display from six-year-old mare Walks The Talk when landing a Roscommon mares’ maiden hurdle last month by five and a half lengths, and hopes are now high that it could be the start of a memorable journey with the daughter of Walk In The Park.

Not only did the victory prompt celebrations for the successful Keep Er Lit Syndicate, it also yielded a valuable €7,500 payout under the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme.

“My father [Gerard] is 80 this year and we’ve been involved in horses all our lives,” says Donal McArdle, speaking on behalf of the syndicate.

“Without putting pressure on John, we told him we wanted to find something decent to enjoy his 80th year and hopefully she looks one we’ll have plenty of fun with.

“We have a transport company, DG McArdle International, and plenty of people will recognise our lorries on the road - the white ones with a bit of red and black. I’m involved in a couple of syndicates but myself, my father, my brother Gerard Jr and sister Grainne decided last winter that we’d like to try finding something half decent that might get us to Leopardstown or Fairyhouse over the winter months. We’re joined in the syndicate by Eugene Drennan, the former president of the Irish Road Haulage Association.

Well named

“With our links to the lorries, there’s a saying in that world to ‘keep her lit’ - keep the lorry moving - and we decided on that as the name for the syndicate.”

The Roscommon win under in-form rider Alex Harvey was not coming out of turn by any means. Walks The Talk had been running with plenty of credit in bumpers through the months previous.

“She was very good at Roscommon,” McArdle says.

“We had hoped that she’d win her bumper during the summer and was probably unlucky not to have done that. She came up against a mare called Liadawn on her first start for us in a bumper and that turned out to be very good form, with the winner going on to win the Listed [Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mucklemeg] Mares Bumper at Gowran last week. She was then only just nabbed late on by another Willie Mullins-trained mare, Closutton, at Downpatrick on her second start after doing a lot of hard work… Two sickenings off Willie from two starts at Downpatrick!

“She was running well, though, and both John and Alex were of the opinion that whatever she did in bumpers, she’d be a much better type over hurdles. They thought jumping would be the making of her. She came out of James and Ellen Doyle’s place and had won a point-to-point on her only start, so you’re always hoping jumping might be her forte anyway. Thankfully, she never missed a beat for her first start over hurdles at Roscommon. Very professional. As anyone would, you’d sometimes be a little nervous watching a horse on their first start over hurdles but once I saw her jump the first, I knew it wouldn’t be the hurdles that would beat her.”

Stable in form

The McArdle family were involved in training a small string in the 1990s but have been enjoying their current association with McConnell’s Cheltenham Festival-winning team.

“I think that win in Roscommon was my third or fourth between different syndicates I’m involved in at John’s,” says McArdle.

“I’ve been with him a couple of years and it’s great to see his horses in such good form. Since the end of the summer, his yard has really kicked into gear and he had a great Listowel. There’s a team of horses going over to Cheltenham in October and we’ll find something in the next week or two for Walks The Talk, maybe a novice hurdle.

“It’ll be very interesting to see where she ends up. You never know with mares, they can end up going anywhere, so we’ll keep stepping her up.”

Praising the additional Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus payout, McArdle added: “It was a great bonus in more ways than one because I had actually forgotten about it until we checked it up after coming home from Roscommon! It was as good as winning two races to get another €7,500 on top of the prize money she won.

“As I said to John since, that scheme would definitely encourage you to have a mare in training. It’s a great initiative. Leaving Roscommon with €6,000 in prize money was grand, but adding another €7,500 on top means you’re a lot happier going home over the road.

“You wouldn’t rule out her trying for another bonus over fences in time either. Touch wood, I’d imagine she could be very good at that as well. The big thing as well is that Alex felt she’d be comfortable stepping up to three miles from two and a half. Hopefully she’s one we could have a bit of fun with. She likes getting her toe in and we’re coming into the right time of the year.

“We received a lovely montage of the win from Healy Racing just this morning and it’s great to see. Those are the memories that you will always have.”