RADIO presenter, celebrity make-up artist and make-up/beauty influencer Grainne McCoy returns to Down Royal on Saturday, October 31st as head judge of the Madrí best-dressed competitions on day two of the BetVictor Festival of Racing. The best-dressed lady will be presented with a £3,000 travel voucher sponsored by Madrí Excepional; groomswear specialist Freddie Hatchet is sponsoring a voucher for the best-dressed male; while the best-dressed couple can look forward to a luxury two-night stay in The Bedford Hotel Belfast.

You have to be in to win so don’t forget to buy your admission tickets today and then think about what you’re going to wear.

THE Northern region point-to-point bookmakers presented their annual fundraising donation to representatives of Northern Ireland Hospice at last Saturday’s East Antrim meeting in Loughanmore.

The weekly collection for NI Hospice among the bookmakers was instigated by Jimmy McQuade and John Connolly who are both sadly deceased. his year’s donation amounted to £1,600.

LOCAL yards did an excellent job in holding off the southern raiders last Saturday at Loughanmore where they won five of the six races, losing out on a clean sweep by a neck.

The Caherty Stables duo of owner Philip McBurney and trainer Gerald Quinn continued their excellent start to the campaign when two of their four Dara McGill-partnered runners, Wee Anna in the Tattersalls Ireland November NH Sale four-year-old mares maiden and Katkoriko in the winners of two, won and the other pair finished second.

In the Dennison JCB five-year-old geldings’ maiden, the trio’s Glenhead, who was having his third start, went down by half a length to Chapter ‘N’ Verse whose only previous outing had been at the same venue in April 2025 when he had finished third.

The Poet’s Word gelding, who is trained by the in-form Ross Crawford for Jeremy Maxwell, was ridden by Deckie Lavery who had previously worn his own colours to victory in the Dennison Commercials four-year-old geldings’ maiden on the Paddy Turley-trained I Told Him That.

The Jet Away gelding, who had finished fifth in an Oldcastle maiden on his only previous start in March, was a €30,000 purchase by Lavery and Turley at the 2025 Arkle Sale at Goffs. He had been consigned by Stone Lodge Stud on behalf of Kieran Shields who had given Co Kildare breeder Jeann MacClancy €10,500 for the bay as a foal. The winner’s unraced dam Scripture (by Sadler’s Wells) is an own-sister to Scribe and Northern Hal plus, more pertinent ly, Fontanesi, and is dam of five track winners, most pertinently Our Power.

It was most disappointing, and alarming, to see just three starters in the concluding Move Right Therapy older geldings’ maiden where Stephen Connor got off the mark for the season on the Stuart Crawford-trained, Sean McElroy-owned Ballyedward.

Shane Wilson and Jamesy Hagan had their colours carried to victory in the open at Tinahely on Sunday on the David Christie-trained My Life Be Like.

IT was great to see Dylan Browne McMonagle record his first win since his return from injury at Leopardstown last Sunday, especially in light of his upcoming international forays.

Also on the flat at home, Luke McAteer was on the mark at Navan on Wednesday while in Britain there were wins on the level for Paddy Bradley at Brighton last Thursday week and for Barry McHugh at Redcar on Friday.

Over jumps, Derek Fox recorded a double last Thursday week at Perth and also visited the winner’s enclosure at Hexham on Tuesday. Brian Hughes was also on the mark at that Perth meeting and added to his seasonal tally with wins at Market Rasen on Saturday and the following day at Sedgfield, where Danny McMenamin too partnered a winner. Daire McConville got off the mark for the season at Uttoxeter on Friday while Caoilin Quinn struck at Plumpton on Monday.

It was quiet on the breeding front. Previously trained here by Karen McNeilly, who saddled him to finish second in a four-year-old maiden at Loughanmore in April 2025 on his only run between the flags, and then by Paul Traynor, for whom, on the second of two starts, he won a Kilbeggan bumper a year later, the Gail Kidd-bred Kershaw (Success Days – Moorstone, by Manduro) won a maiden hurdle at Perth last Thursday week on his first run for Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore.

On the flat, there was a win at Newcastle last Friday for the Brian and Ann Marie Kennedy-bred Emerald Harmony (Soldier’s Call – Green Chorus, by Oratorio) whose half-brother by Starman is due to come up as Lot 665 at the December Foal Sale in Tattersalls Newmarket. The five-year-old mare is one of five winners out of her dam, a half-sister of Millisle, Gino Severini and Ithoughitwasover.

At the Curragh on Tuesday, the opening 1xBet.ie Supporting October Racing Irish EBF Maiden for two-year-olds over six furlongs was won by the 5/2 favourite Nation Blaze (Sioux Nation – Deac’s Girl, by Churchill), who was bred by Dean Harron in partnership with Patricia Casement.

The following afternoon at Deauville there was a win for the Andrew McNally-bred four-year-old gelding Khyrilovitch (Profitable – Teikei, by New Approach) whose year younger Blue Point half-brother Mazao comes up as Lot 275 at Tattersalls Newmarket on Monday.

With others, Mark Devlin and Nigel O’Hare were involved with two Ado McGuinness-trained horses who won three races in the period under review. They struck on the flat at Southwell last Thursday and again on Monday with Distillate while they struck at Uttoxeter on Friday with the Anne Wishart-bred six-year-old gelding Bryson (Order Of St George – Coolharbour Breeze, by Beneficial).

The sole local training success came on Friday evening at Dundalk where Andy Oliver saddled Francis Campbell’s four-year-old New Bay filly Enchanted Lady to win the extended 10-furlong handicap.

There were a few wins for former Northern-trained point-to-pointers recently, but we will single out two graduates of Caroline McCaldin’s yard, Saint Polo and Ballygeary who, in that order, finished first and second in the extended two-mile Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle at Market Rasen last Saturday.