DUNGANNON-born jockey Barry McHugh, who qualified from RACE in 1999, rode his first winner in Ireland last Friday week night when the Cool Silk Partnership’s Charming Kid justified his position at the head of the market in the J. Duffy Services Race over six furlongs at Dundalk.

Recording his second success from seven starts, the three-year-old Charm Spirit colt is trained by McHugh’s boss, Richard Fahey, who didn’t travel from Malton to his native Co Louth for the meeting but on hand to welcome the winners back to the No 1 spot was Barry’s father Sean.

McHugh, whose biggest win last season had come on the Fahey-trained 33/1 shot Red Balloons in the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Stakes at York in August, had given the yard its first victory for 2019 when Coolagh Magic, after two second place finishes in December, won a six-furlong three-year-old handicap at Newcastle on January 2nd.

There was a third northern-connected winner at Dundalk last Friday week when the USA-bred five-year-old Gougane Barra finally got off the mark in the first division of the BK Fortlifts Handicap over a mile.

Trained by Michael Halford and ridden by Shane Foley, the First Defence gelding is owned by Castlewellan’s Paul Rooney who was praised for his patience by the Co Kildare handler. Gougane Barra, who is out of a Monsun mare, was having his ninth start of his career on Friday, the first coming in a two-year-old maiden at the same Co Louth track in October 2016. He only ran twice the following season.