DOWNPATRICK held its final meeting of 2017 last Friday afternoon when Gordon Elliott was crowned champion trainer at the track for the fourth year in succession, receiving 240 bottles of Coors Light for this achievement.

The Meath man, who was presented with his prize by the sponsor’s Leo Fennell and Downpatrick racecourse patron Eveleigh Brownlow, went into the fixture with a six-win lead over his nearest rivals, Mark McNiff and Joseph O’Brien, and brought his seasonal total up to 14 with a treble on the day.

His second winner was Poormans Hill who, at odds of 4/9, recorded a hat-trick when landing the extended M.B. McGrady & Co Accountants two-mile, six-furlong handicap hurdle in the hands of Jack Kennedy. The six-year-old Stowaway gelding, whose recent string of successes began at the Co Down track in September, runs in the colours of Vincent Caldwell and his mother Kathleen who, without giving away a lady’s age, is possibly the oldest registered owner in the country.

HAT-TRICK

Canny Tom, who completed Elliott’s hat-trick in the Frank Fitzsimons Memorial Beginners Chase over two miles, three furlongs, was bred in Co Down by Brian Wilson. The seven-year-old Jimble gelding is the third of five foals out of the bumper-winning Good Thyne mare Tombazaan who comes from the family of Buck House, Jessies Dream, etc.

The racecard contained the following tribute to Frank Fitzsimmons: “Frank was born and bred on a small farm inside the centre of Downpatrick Racecourse in 1916. He was a well- known amateur jockey and trained racehorses and point to pointers at his stables inside the track. He rode his first winner here in 1935 for Major Beamish, a local trainer in nearby Vianstown, and went on to ride many winners at Downpatrick and other courses throughout Ireland and England. He rode races until he was 58 and trained up until 1986. Two of his horses, Bright Trick and Hope’s Choice, were course specialists.”

The Noel Meade-trained Joey Sasa, who won the J.P. Corry Building Supplies Hurdle, was also bred in Co Down - this time by by Patricia Doran. The eight-year-old Winged Love gelding is out of the Monsun mare Brescia.