SEEING Pat Smullen at the Curragh on Sunday was special. No amount of rain could dampen the spirit of the man, and the gods endorsed his presence when Search For A Song won the final Irish classic of the year. It was a weekend when goodness prevailed.

That goodness extended to each and every person who played a part in making Pat’s appeal for cancer trials’ funding such a success, and racing showed its best collegiate face to the world. In spite of counter attractions on Saturday and unfavourable weather on Sunday, the crowds turned up and racing put on the best show it could muster. What a spectacle it was.

From Pinatubo’s nine-length annihilation of his opposition, an aptly-named winner of the feature Irish Champion Stakes, to the concluding victory on Sunday for one of the season’s unsung heroes One Cool Poet, a day after he ran at Leopardstown, the racing was packed with thrilling stories. Irish Champions Weekend 2019 has much to celebrate.

Clever owners get it

Monday week, September 30th, is a deadline you do not want to miss. Indeed, don’t wait a minute longer and get online at itba.ie, download an application form, and put it in the post. What am I talking about?

This is the closing date for applications for the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Scheme, an incentive that The Irish Field is proud to support and encourage. For a fee of €200 for a homebred filly born in 2016 or earlier, and €150 for a filly that has been through a store sale, you are open to landing bonuses worth €5,000, €10,000, or even €15,000. As the promotional literature says, clever owners get it!

This is one of the racing industry’s greatest self-help initiatives, and to date an incredible €1.5 million has been paid out to winning owners. The bonuses are paid on top of the prize money won and without deduction. There have been over 300 individual winners since the scheme began, but it is still open to even more participation and winners.

The €5,000 bonus can be earned by an eligible filly or mare winning a mares only bumper, hurdle or chase for the first time, while a dozen mares only handicap hurdle winners and those successful in a Connolly’s Red Mills EBF auction race can also collect.

What are you waiting for? Put this at the top of your to-do list. You know it makes good sense.