IF second could only be the new first, it would have been a spectacular few days for Armagh trainer Ronan McNally.

Last Thursday week, on Thyestes Day at Gowran Park, one of the youngsters in the yard, the six-year-old Papal Bull gelding The Jam Man, filled the runner-up slot in the two-and-a-half-mile Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle. He hit the front two out but was then headed, and ultimately beaten six lengths into second by the late-arriving Allez Kal.

The winner, trained close to the Co Kilkenny track by James Barcoe, is an eight-year-old Kalanisi mare who was bred by Gareth Metcalfe out of Reynard’s Glen, a half-sister to three winners including the 10-time winner Sir OJ.

The most recent recorded produce out of the Old Vic mare, all colts, are by Jeremy (2014) and Shirocco (2016 and 2017). And what can one say of the McNally stable stalwart See Double You who, at 16 years of age, finished one and a quarter lengths behind the eight-year-old Kayf Thou in the three-mile, one furlong handicap chase at Fairyhouse on Saturday before filling the same slot over two and a half miles behind the nine-year-old Pack Your Bags at Down Royal on Tuesday. Whatever Ronan’s son Cian is doing with the Saddlers’ Hall gelding on the gallops is certainly keeping him sweet.