NEWLY crowned champion conditional rider Rachael Blackmore is not resting on her laurels and was quick to notch up her first double of the new campaign at Clonmel on Thursday.
The Killenaule native struck first for Waterford handler Con O’Keeffe on his all-the-way winner Nicaragua in the Ancient East Mares Maiden Hurdle and followed up when Millen Dollar Man credited her with her first success for Billy Harney in the Sliabh Na mBan Handicap Hurdle.
Nicaragua, a 9/2 chance, was bought by O’Keeffe’s son Thomas and is owned in partnership by the Kilbarry Stud owner’s wife Claire and well-known orthopaedic surgeon Tadhg O’Sullivan.
O’Keeffe said of his two and a half length winner: “She’s a very game filly and the ground was good for her.
“It was more testing last time (in Cork) and there might be another one in her, either a winners’ of one or a 0-102 handicap. She likes good ground and is brilliant to jump. She likes to do things her own way and has a high cruising speed.”
Winner number two of the evening for Blackmore came through 14/1 shot Millen Dollar Man who challenged to lead before the final obstacle and was driven out in the colours of Harney’s wife Imelda to see off the favourite Tintown Robin by three lengths.
The 3lb claimer has ridden a few of the Templemore trainer’s horses in bumpers in the past, but this represented Millen Dollar Man’s last chance on the racecourse.
Harney revealed: “I rang Rachael the other night and said she would have eight to 10 pounds in hand if she could find the key to him!”
Gordon Elliott, who kept up the pressure on Willie Mullins in the trainers championship right to the very end of last season, is another person with a seemingly unquenchable thirst for success.
Just like last year, he has been hitting the target from the word go and teamed up with his old ally Davy Russell to register a half-length victory with Vanishing Point, who justified 13/8 favouritism for the American-based Armagh Bhoys Partnership in the Clonacody Maiden Hurdle.
Elliott observed: “He’s a grand fun horse and he’ll win a few races during the summer and mix it on the flat. He made hard work of it, but won snugly in the end.”
Kilcolgan trainer Steve Mahon has his string in sparkling form at present and added to his tally when Tom Quinn’s Stormey survived a stewards enquiry into possible interference between himself and six other runners, including market leader Fiesole after the turn into the straight, in the Quirke UPVC Windows (Clonmel) 80-109 Handicap Hurdle. The stewards concluded the interference was accidental and caused by general bunching.
Denis O’Regan’s mount nailed it by one and three-quarters of a length, after which Mahon stated: “I wasn’t worried about the enquiry and would have found it very unfair if they had taken it off me. Denis is riding most of mine now and he’s a class rider. I have a good crew of staff now and this horse was a bit unlucky not to win in Ballinrobe.”
Eoin Doyle, out of luck with Fiesole in that race, was on the mark with his wife Gemma’s Jefferson Davis in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Handicap Hurdle.
Partnered by Sean Flanagan, the 8/1 shot took over at the second last after the long-time leader Macs Legend blundered and dug deep to repel Zig Zag’s challenge by a neck.
The Mooncoin trainer remarked: “He only ran the other night in Kilbeggan, but he got murdered at the start and never got into it. We took a chance on running him again so soon because he’s only a four-year-old, but he seems to stay well and the further he goes, the better.”
Doyle added: “He wouldn’t want it any quicker than that and he might go for a four-year-old novice hurdle or he could go back on the flat for the summer over a trip. He was tough on the flat, too and stays at it.”
Jockey Brian O’Connell told free-running Ornua’s trainer Henry de Bromhead he was “only a passenger” for the first mile of the Clonmel Racecourse Supporters Club Guest Evening Hurdle, but the 5/4 favourite kept up the gallop to win well by a 17-length margin from Morgan.
The favourite raced for London-based John Phelan and Syed Momin and de Bromhead said: “Brian said the speed he was going early on, he thought he might tie up, but he was impressed with the way he kept on going. Usually he’s a brilliant jumper, but he made a couple of mistakes today.
“John is a great supporter of ours and he’s had a few winners for us including Show And Go, but today is the first day he’s been here for one of those winners.
“He could maybe go to Killarney in July for that nice novice hurdle, but he’s a lovely horse and there’s lots to look forward to.
“We were going to go chasing with him, but he’ll stay hurdling for the rest of the season.”
Ladysingstheblues, from the Noel Meade yard, headed the betting for the Friday June 9th BBQ At Clonmel Races Mares Flat Race and the 7/4 favourite duly triumphed under Danny Benson to come out on top by a length in the cerise silks of Patricia Hunt from Belfast.
Fitted with a first time tongue tie, the five-year-old confirmed the promise she had shown in her two outings last term with this battling win over Blixt and a stewards inquiry into possible interference between the two principals in the straight failed to alter the result.
Benson, who was subsequently handed a one-day suspension for careless riding, reported: “She’s tough and she’ll be a lovely mare over hurdles over a trip. She has a good old page, so it was a valuable win.”
ACTING STEWARDS
P.F. Ronan, Mrs F Ward, J. Kennedy, M.F. O’Donoghue.
HORSE TO FOLLOW
MACS LEGEND (M. L. Hallahan): He was still in with a chance of being involved in the shake-up for the handicap hurdle until making a very bad blunder at the second last. Soon outpaced, he plugged on to take third and can be improve on the run.