Annaghmore

Sunday

SEVERAL champion stakes for younger horses brought a large crowd to Annaghmore last Sunday.

There were some excellent performances from hot favourites. However, ‘drive of the day’ would arguably go to Jonny Cowden who got Sweet Pa, owned by David Curtin and trained by Neville Martin, up on the line to beat Dazzling Lou in the two-year-old colts’ division.

Patrick Kane jnr was in hot form, driving a treble, but Patrick’s wins were all odds-on, whereas Jonny’s race looked open and came down to tactics.

The trotting fraternity seem to be excited more by young stakes horses than the older free-for-all campaigners these days. The stars of yesteryear raced more often in a season than these finely-bred youngsters do in three years. That much said, you can’t beat class and the Ball brothers of London spend big and aren’t scared to race all comers.

The Balls and their partner Josh Grabber of Michigan. picked up the two-year-old fillies with Ayrodrome and the three-year-old colts with Ayroplane, no stranger to this column.

Josh Grabber becomes the first owner from an Amish background to get a mention in The Irish Field.

Ayrodrome defeated Sure Am Classy (Troy McAleer) while Ayroplane beat stable companion The Groomsman as his nemesis from Tir Prince, Ayr Exchange was scratched.

Patrick was a notable driver booking on Clive Kavanagh’s She’s Hungry. The 2/1 to 1/2 sums things up.

The older trotters served up some good sport. One of the oldest horses on the card, Cyclone de Couriere (5/2) took out the Grade E to F trot.

Driver Daniel McAteer from Randalstown said: “We decided to put him back into work, despite the fact that he’s 13. He is sound and genuine.”

Martin Loughran made it four wins this year for Kyle Hayes’ Ilda Machette. Emil Paco (Jonny Cowden) did the donkey work, but the six-year-old mare picked them off quite easily.

“She has speed and stays, it’s nice to win for Kyle,” said the Cooley Wizard.

Homa (4/5) landed the odds-on the Grade E trot for Ciaran Morrison, who also trains for the Murphys from Baltimore. Homa went on early for a bloodless win.

Ecrin de Grimault (Noel Ryan) upset Gentleman d’Alesa (Calvin Broughan) to win the top-class trot.

Irish foaled

All four three-year-old trotters are Irish foaled and trained thanks to the largesse of trotting and thoroughbred breeder Jean Pierre Dubois, who allowed his stallion So Lovely Girl to serve mares here at below the market rate.

The four three-year-olds looked good gaited and on the bit, which bodes well. Calvin Broughan on Making Memories tracked Sean Kane on Made For Monza before slipping past in the straight.

Lieutenant Dan ran out a wide-margin winner of the four-year-old race for Sean Kane.

Troy McAleer gave Newtown Major an enterprising drive to take the top grade pace. Runner-up Bequest (Patrick Kane jnr) was unlucky as they got boxed in. Troy had a steering job as Coalford Annabelle comfortably beat her only rival Little Sweet in the three-year-old fillies. A time of 1.58.2 would suggest that bigger goals are within her scope.

The Galbally team of Sean and Simon Duggan got Coalford Henry H (5/2) off the mark for 2025 with an all-the-way victory in 2.00.6 in the Grade F pace.

Simon buzzed Henry H out of the gate. “In a nine-horse race, the front is a good place to be - you can avoid traffic,” said cousin Sean.

The stakes races were sponsored by the Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine administered by Horse Sport Ireland.

Full results and entries can be viewed at www.irishharnessracing.com Replays are on IHRA YouTube channel.

Annaghmore Raceway resumes tomorrow.