Charles Byrnes: highs and lows

CHARLES Byrnes saddled his first winner in 1995 and very quickly the Ballingarry, Co Limerick, trainer became a name for punters to take very seriously, especially when his horses were well-backed.

His first big win came in 2000 when he won the Munster National at the old Greenpark course in Limerick city with Super Franky.

Grade 3s and big handicaps were soon added to his record and he made a big breakthrough in 2004 when he won the Pierse Hurdle at Leopardstown (now the Ladbroke) with Dromlease Express.

Gigginstown House Stud and J.P. McManus both became patrons of the yard. Byrnes won two Grade 1s at Cheltenham for Gigginstown with Weapon’s Amnesty, and his success for McManus included two successive runnings of the Coral/Ladbrokes Hurdle at Leopardstown.

But the most prolific horse Byrnes has trained to date is Solwhit, winner of eight Grade 1s. The trainer has never made it a secret that he is a betting man and he landed a notable coup at Roscommon in 2016 when he saddled three winners on one evening.

However, his yard has been in the news for the wrong reasons at times.

In 2005, one of his horses, Laetitia, was banned from racing for 60 days after her amateur rider failed to make sufficient effort to beat stable companion Alpha Royale at Cork.

Five years later the stewards discovered that a betting exchange account was routinely laying horses trained by Byrnes for unusually large sums. The account was in the name of one of Byrnes’ employees, who was given a four-month ban.