THERE were 13 races over the two days of the East Antrims’ Easter meeting at Loughanmore where breeders would have been pleased to see that 12 of the winners carried an IRE suffix. Of these, four were trained by the Crawford brothers.
Ross was first to strike when winning division one of the opening Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale 4yo Mares’ Maiden on the Saturday with the Thomas Kileff-ridden newcomer Crazy Alice.
The Affinisea bay ran in the colours of local owner Peter Boyd who bred the winner out of his unraced Beat Hollow mare Catleen Delight.
Stuart recorded a treble on Monday, all three of his winners being partnered by Stephen Connor. The pair struck first in the opening Dennison JCB 4yo Auction Maiden with Crawford’s own Maxios gelding Smithytown who had finished third on his only previous start at Kirkistown last month.
Win number two for the pair came in the 10-runner John Thompson & Sons Open where Largy Bloodstock’s Carnfunnock had the temerity to beat Winged Leader and then the same owners’ Largy Leader brought up the treble in the following adjacent hunts’ winners of two.
Also on Monday, the long-absent Brootally won the six-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden in the colours of his trainer Peter Buchanan while Dara McGill came in for the winning ride in the concluding older mares’ maiden on Aisling Molloy’s Nelsons Port who was making her debut at the age of seven. Back to Saturday, when the David Christie-trained Fortune Lad landed the concluding winners of two in the colours of John Hegarty and Jenny O’Kane.
Sunday action
On Easter Sunday, there was a win at Curraghmore for the Elizabeth ‘Hammie’ Hamilton-bred six-year-old Suspect Getaway (Getaway – Danielle’s Journey, by Presenting) in the older geldings’ maiden for novice riders.
On the same afternoon at Quakerstown, there were wins in the opening Goffs Aintree Sale 4yo Maiden for the newcomer Milford Road (Jukebox Jury – Paschalia, by Sea The Stars), a chesnut gelding bred by Michael Cave in partnership with Stephen Lanigan O’Keefe, and in the following Tattersalls Cheltenham April Sale 5yo Geldings’ Maiden for the Margaret McCrudden Dinkin-bred Sittin Ona Fortune (Soldier Of Fortune – Now Let Go, by Flemensfirth).
Britain
Although no point-to-points were held on Easter Sunday in Britain, 12 meetings took place over the extended weekend – one on Friday, six on Saturday and five on Monday.
Irish-breds thankfully dominated the list of winners but only one locally-bred winner caught the eye and that was the 11-year-old mare All Loved Up (Winged Love – Rowdy Exit, by Exit To Nowhere) who made all under Hugh Lillingston to land the three-runner men’s open at Kimble on Saturday.
This was a fifth win between the flags, and the third this season, for the Deckie Lennon-bred bay.
GETAWAY, one of Coolmore’s Grange Stud-based stallions, has sired a number of winners recently including one whose victory was recorded at Tyrella on Easter Monday.
While the Stuart Crawford-trained Getaway gelding Carnfunnock was beating Winged Leader in the open at the East Antrim’s meeting up at Loughanmore, down on the coast, the unraced Getaway Stevie landed the EI80 on his affiliated debut at the re-scheduled Eventing Ireland Northern Region one-day event.
Owned and ridden by Abby Cummiskey, Getaway Stevie was bred by Gareth Metcalfe and is the eighth of 10 recorded foals out of the unraced King’s Theatre mare Fox Theatre, the dam of three track winners and a half-sister to the Be My Native gelding Sir OJ among others. Cummiskey has the six-year-old entered in a similar class at Tyrella on Saturday next, April 18th.
An Irish Sport Horse to note at Loughanmore was Wellan Summertime who, under the speedy Victoria Clarke, was the only horse to get home within the time across the country in the EI110 (Open) which she then won on her dressage score.
Sidelined
Bred locally by Jim and Margaret Newsam, the 16-year-old daughter of Mermus R is owned by the still-sidelined reigning champion ladies point-to-point rider Toni Quail who was represented at Tyrella by her mother Donna.
Expressing her appreciation for all that Victoria has done in producing Monday’s winner for her, Toni told us: “I’m doing well and am still working with the Injured Jockeys’ team of Jennifer, Gavin, Wayne and Alannah. Plans for the mare are that Victoria will keep riding her for the next while, possibly taking in an international, but hopefully I’ll be able to take over the reins again in a few months all going well.”
DANNY McMenamin once again leads off our list of successful jockeys this week having landed doubles at Kelso last Thursday week and at Carlisle on Saturday before making it five for the week with a solitary win at Market Rasen on Sunday.
Fellow Downpatrick native Caoilin Quinn was on the mark last Thursday week at Chepstow and again on Monday at Plumpton; Derek Fox partnered a winner at Carlisle on Saturday while, at home, there was a win for Deckie Lavery on Saturday at Fairyhouse where Simon Torrens also visited the No 1 spot on Monday.
On the flat, Oisin Orr rode a winner on the Good Friday card at Lingfield and another at Southwell on Sunday and Barry McHugh was on the mark at Catterick on Wednesday.
On the training front, there were wins on Easter Monday at Cork for both Mark McNiff and David Christie while on the owners’ front there were wins on Friday at the Curragh for Philip Gilmore and Patricia Hunt, and on Saturday at Fairyhouse for Pat Sloan.
A GOOD number of horses who started their racing careers in local yards visited the winner’s enclosure in Ireland and Britain over the period under review but here we’re just going to concentrate on Sunday at Fairyhouse.
It pains me to write about the first of these but, when looking at the Cawley Furniture Novice Handicap Hurdle on Friday for my Nap, I was seriously considering Katie Daniels (No 15) but then decided to go for the horse directly above her in the handicap, Diamond Tipp (No 14).
Wouldn’t you know it, and to be polite about it, Diamond Tipp does not run well at all, eventually pulling up, while Katie Daniels wins by seven lengths at odds of 33/1!
Now in the care of Cian Collins but still owned by Barry Logan, the 2019 Walk In The Park mare started her career with Stuart Crawford. She finished fourth and fifth in two outings for him in 2023, before moving to Gerald Quinn for whom, on her fourth start, she won an older mares’ maiden at Kirkistown in November 2024 when ridden by Noel McParlan.
Turley produced
The following Grade 2 Donohue Marquees Novice Hurdle was landed by the French-bred Koktail Brut who, in the colours of Gigginstown House Stud, was winning for the fourth time since joining the Gordon Elliott yard.
The now six-year-old Cokoriko gelding ran just the once when trained by Paddy Turley. That was in a division of the four-year-old maiden at Castletown-Geoghegan in April 2024 when, in an eight-runner race where he was partnered by Deckie Lavery, the bay saw off the only other finisher by 25 lengths. He then changed hands for €250,000 at Goffs Punchestown Sale.
DON’T forget, it’s Fibrus Family Race Day tomorrow at Down Royal where there will be a treasure hunt, bouncy castles, inflatable games, a petting farm, pony rides, face-painting etc.
There will also be a racing simulator at the track and, hopefully on it, some better results for local trainers than last year when Co Meath’s Gordon Elliott recorded a treble and no local handler got a look in.