FEBRUARY 1st every year is becoming a key date for all the major Irish and UK harness racing yards. The date is the deadline for first payments for the annual Vincent Delaney Memorial Weekend, and the organisers of the premium meeting unveiled the entries recently.

Every year industry figures wait anxiously to see the mixed bag of two-year-olds entered for the VDM. The feature race is now in its eighth year and has offered separate colt and fillies’ divides since 2016.

“The strong entry is an endorsement of the Vincent Delaney weekend,” said Derek Delaney of Oakwood Stud, Co Offaly who is the main promoter of the event. “I will have news in the coming weeks about visiting VIPs from the world of harness racing.”

Delaney has been a master at publicity coups over the years. In recent VDM weekends, Derek has arranged for some of the most famous drivers in America to race at the little track on the periphery of the international scene.

Dan Noble, Mike Wilder, Aaron Merriman (“The Big Red Machine”) and George Brennan (“The Minister for Speed”) have all driven at Portmarnock. The American harness racing industry loves a bit of razzamatazz as the colourful nicknames would indicate.

One constant amongst the visiting drivers has been their unquestionable love of the sport and an ability to connect with the public, especially the children who attend the racing.

Mike Wilder brought a supply of driving gloves (a good brand of course) to hand out to youngsters. Jordan Stratton, who drove last year, had endless patience for selfies with young and old.

The 67 entrants at this stage include roughly 30 trained in Ireland, 25 English, six Welsh and six Scottish. Transport magnates, cattle dealers and caravan park owners have runners in against lorry drivers and blacksmiths.

Horses are no respecters of pedigrees and Neville Martin’s homebred has, in theory, the same chance of making the line-up as the colt raised at Kentuckiana Farms.

2020 Vincent Delaney Entries

WELSH-based broodmare Another Mattie has thrown three previous winners and this year will be represented by a colt, Acclimatize, trained by the Laidlers of Durham, a £20,000 Raymond Huschka purchase.

Marc Jones’ proven broodmare Apopka Denise is the dam of Apopka G who will be conditioned by the Welsh-based farrier, a close ally of the Wallaces in Dublin.

Cherry Hall pulled off a coup at Appleby in her racing days and is the dam of Ger Duhig’s Cherry On Top, one of 13 by Foreclosure in the nominations. As the Delaneys stand Foreclosure, a winner by that stallion would have a sense of justice about it.

Clemtress goes back to the old Bousfield breeding in Appleby and she is the dam of Chief Red Cloud, by exciting young sire My Pan Mar.

The entries include five by the well-established Hasty Hall, though unusually none by Kikicolt.

Walter Stewart’s stallion For A Few Dollars More has made a good start as a sire with Ladyford Dollar and Loose Change picking up classics in 2019. ‘Dollar’ stands in North Dublin and will have the Duggan-trained Cranlum Cora in the line up.

The good-looking Armbro Deuce tragically died after his first season at stud and he is the sire of three fillies and a colt.

The Murphy/Donovan partnership continue their transatlantic dealings with the entry of a colt from the first crop of Little Jug winner Betting Line. Bequest is the name of this regally bred colt. The same yard will be jogging IB Flo Jo from their proven mare Annies Lady.

In the bike

In terms of human pedigrees, all the big names are in the entries. Alexis Laidler of Durham has farmed this meeting and has four still standing at this early stage.

Another English lady trainer Sally Teebon from Derbyshire, has also a fine strike-rate and will be hoping that Oakwood Brooklyn or Rhyds Eye Candy (£6,600 at Builth Wells) will emulate Miraculous, who won the VDM in 2015.

English maestro Dave Taff has endured brushes with the authorities over the years but has landed the job of training the well-bred stock of the Lyons Mound family from North Wales.

Easy-going Yorkshire man Alan Haythornthwaite won the inaugural VDM with Frisco Fiddler and has four in the entries. Henrys Best (Eagle Luck - Lady Claires Best) will run for those sporting owners the Fletchers of Wolverhampton.

Father and daughter team of John and Vicki Gill, who train at York track, are another English stable with strong VDM credentials. The Gills took the 2013 edition with Camden Tino and the 2014 with the ill-fated Titanium. John Gill is to train four fillies and two colts, mainly for the JAD Syndicate of Limerick.

Cathy Shields and the Gilvears of Stirling will represent the buzzing little track Corbie Wood, near Bannockburn. Cathy owns a Camden-bred filly Daisy Camden and John Gilvear will send his usual well-bred stock. The Gilvear runners are named Mystify (a filly) and in the colts Glencoe, named with a Scottish feel.

Mick Lord of Rochdale has yet to win a VDM but has two Greenhill fillies entered for regular commuters the Thomas family and an Art Professor filly for Adam Jones.

The home team will be represented by Billy Roche, coming off a great 2019 season. Billy is listed as trainer of Maid Man, from Christy Dunne bloodlines and a Sportswriter colt, Rewrite Sport for Tom Lawless.

Sportswriter has already sired a colts’ winner (Rewrite History) and a fillies’ victor (Oakwood Starcam).

Other ‘ local ‘ trainers include the up-and-coming Bernard Nicholson of Cootehill, the veteran Christy Foran, and Gavin Murdock.

Nicholson has entered Oakwood Arabella, by Foreclosure out of the useful Carmel Camden. He also trains his own Churchview Frankel. Bernard was a standard bearer for the small man in 2019 when he took the filly Churchview Niche to the latter stages.

Christy ‘Hopper’ Foran trains a half-sister to the feted coloured horse White Flame, namely Art Special.

Gavin Murdock, who so carefully orchestrated the gradual progress of Blackwell Ruby in 2018 and 2019 will be hoping for similar results for Rhyds Eclipse, a £12,000 daughter of Hasty Hall.

In the same way that Messrs. Bowe, Doyle and Murphy can name their price for a young point-to-point winner, recent interest from the US means that a good showing at the VDM festival could be a ticket to New York for some of these runners.

Welsh-based Corkman trainer Michael O’Mahony has a Rogue Hall and two Doonbegs to look forward to. O’Mahony will not rush his charges and they will only travel if they can be competitive.

Benny Grendon, who won last year’s fillies’ division with Rainbow Writer, has entered Shadow Market, bred by US bloodstock agent Brian Doyle. Freddie Kavanagh of Ashbourne has his first VDM runner in the shape of Mahogany Charm by Rogue Hall.

From a similar number of entries last February, only around nine fillies and 11 colts made the big day in August. The statistic bears out the fragility of two-year-olds. Just to get to the final will please many of the owners.

The festival also features classic races for three- and four-year-olds and a free for all (open to all ages either sex, no allowances).

The Irish Field hopes to bring you news as it happens.

Full entries listed on www.vincentdelaneymemorial.com 15th/16th August Portmarnock.

HOT on the heels of being featured in last week’s The Irish Field, young Belfast-based driver Jonny Cowden duly broke his duck in New Zealand on Monday of this week. Jonny won at Manawatu with Benjamin Button who was fifth in the betting. Harness Racing New Zealand’s website shows the 19-year-old executing a perfect waiting drive.