MANY congratulations to David Christie junior, who was one of nine winners for the 2026 Irish Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards (ITIEA), supported by Godolphin, the Irish Stable Staff Association, HRI Equuip, Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and the Racing Post.

The winners will be formally celebrated at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, June 2nd in the Keadeen Hotel in Kildare. Each of the award winners will receive a specially commissioned trophy by sculptor Ani Mollereau and €4,000.

Wilson

THE Irish Horse World’s hunting correspondent Noel Mullins attended the recent Louth Hunt point-to-point at Tattersalls Ireland, where he bumped into leading owner Wilson Dennison and the two began trading tales.

We don’t know what Noel told Wilson, but we did glean a bit of information regarding what Wilson disclosed to Noel - although many of these yarns of daring do are best left unrepeated. However, Noel was delighted to learn that Wilson had recently found a photograph of himself being led in by his brother Jim after riding his first point-to-point winner at the age of 12 on Grace O’Malley.

All this is leading to us extending best wishes to Wilson, who will be 82 next Wednesday and plans to continue hunting next autumn, having done so for 75 seasons to date. He will have been pleased that his colours were carried to victory last Sunday in the older geldings’ maiden at Tullaherin on the Sam Curling-trained Vicomte Le Brave.

Bred in Ireland

While six of the eight winners at this Kilkenny Foxhounds’ meeting were bred in Ireland, the second French-bred to score was the Paddy Turley-trained, Deckie Lavery-ridden Mikel Ange Spigao, a chesnut son of Ivanhowe, who landed division two of the Goffs Punchestown Sale four-year-old geldings’ maiden by three-parts of a length on his debut.

Co Meath-based Amy Parsons sent out the recent Loughanmore maiden winner Nelsons Port to land the mares’ winners of one on her second career start. The seven-year-old Mount Nelson bay is owned by Co Armagh’s Aisling Molloy.

Other local owners to have their colours carried to victory recently were Philip Gilmore on the Gavin Cromwell-trained 10/11 favourite Fiver Friday in the Boardsmill Stud Mares’ Handicap Hurdle at Bellewstown on Saturday and Tilly Conway, whose home-bred six-year-old gelding Polepatrick (Laverock - Bete A Bon Dieu, by Saints Des Saints) also justified favouritism in a two-mile maiden hurdle at Tramore on Sunday for the Henry de Bromhead yard.

Other locally-bred winners were the Susie Berry-bred five-year-old gelding Mr Jukebox (Jukebox Jury - Feldaline, by Presenting) at Exeter on Friday, the Charles Foy-bred eight-year-old mare Game Colours (Shantou - Islandbane, by Orpen) at Ayr on Saturday, when the John Kidd-bred six-year-old gelding They Want Me (Sageburg - Double Dream, by Double Eclipse) won at Bangor.

Winners in Britain

During the week, there were wins for the McCracken Farms-bred six-year-old mare Daytona Lady (Bungle Inthejungle - Roseau City, by Cityscape) at Wolverhampton on Tuesday and, on Wednesday, for the Neville Reid-bred four-year-old filly Milly Ocean (Crystal Ocean - Carrolls Milan, by Milan) at Ludlow and for the Fiona McStay-bred five-year-old gelding Crest Of Stars (Harzand - Ceol Rua, by Bob Back) at Taunton.

On the National Hunt jockeys’ front, there were wins for Derek Fox at Kelso on Monday and at Perth on Tuesday and for Danny McMenamin at Ayr on Saturday, when Simon Torrens was on the mark at Bellewstown. On the level, Paddy Bradley visited the winner’s enclosure at Wolverhampton on Friday, as did Kyle McHugh at Thirsk on Saturday and Oisin Orr at Redcar on Monday. On Wednesday, there was a win for Darragh Keenan at Catterick, where Barry McHugh was also on the mark, and for Luke McAteer at Gowran.

Further afield, Martin Harley won the AUS$160,000 listed race for three-year-olds at Eagle Farm last Saturday on the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Brave Monarch.

LAST Saturday’s Eventing Ireland Northern Region one-day event at Tyrella featured a Treo Eile-sponsored EI90 class restricted to thoroughbreds, which was won by Siobhan Morrow’s 10-year-old Jet Away gelding Baile An Sceilg.

One of two horses in the class ridden by David O’Connor, who many will know through his association with the one-day events at Tullymurry outside Downpatrick, the chesnut picked up four penalties in the show jumping phase.

However, on a total of 30.3, Baile An Sceilg landed the class, ahead of the 11-year-old Born To Sea gelding Woodbury Tampa (Anna Sloan), who completed on his dressage score of 32.8.

Leah Knight, who many will know through her association with the George Stewart stable and is now running Danescroft Equestrian at that Lisburn yard, had a fence down show jumping with Alice Salters’s 14-year-old French-bred Assessor gelding Coo Star Sivola (35.3).

Baile An Sceilg pulled up in a point-to-point maiden and pulled up once and finished unplaced once in two runs over hurdles in April and May 2021, when trained by Caroline McCaldin.

Woodbury Tampa fell and pulled up on only two starts in point-to-point maidens in 2019, when trained by Stuart Crawford.

Coo Star Sivola won two hurdle races and two chases between March 2015 and May 2023, when trained first by Nick Williams and then by Venetia Williams.

Dressage

The winner of the Joanne Cairns-judged dressage phase on 25.5 penalties was the Connor McClory-partnered Lauro Lion. However, Alfred Buller’s unraced seven-year-old home-bred Lauro gelding dropped down the leaderboard when picking up 12 show jumping penalties.

In the day’s 19-runner EI80 class, O’Connor finished second on his dressage score with the newcomer Moylough Jet (31.3), a six-year-old Irish Draught gelding. Here the winner on 30.9 was Abby Cummiskey on her own Getaway Stevie.

This unraced six-year-old Getaway gelding was bred by Aaron Metcalfe and is the eighth of 10 recorded foals out of the King’s Theatre mare Fox Theatre, a half-sister to Be My Native gelding Sir OJ (the winner of 10 races including four Grade 2 chases) and the dam of three track winners.

DOWN Royal racecourse and Britvic Ireland continue their long-standing partnership with Club Mixers being title sponsor of the track’s May Day bank holiday fixture on Monday week, May 4th.

Alan Jordan, Head of On Trade at Britvic Ireland, commented: “We are proud to continue our partnership with the racecourse, ensuring that our premium range of mixers remains at the heart of the social experience. We look forward to seeing the Club Mixers brand come to life trackside once again this May.”

Chloe Ferris, Commercial Director at Down Royal, welcomed the continued partnership: “We are thrilled to have Club Mixers back as the title sponsor for our May Day fixture. This partnership has been a cornerstone of our spring calendar for years.”