THANKFULLY their neighbours would have been well aware that there was nothing sinister about all the shouting and screaming coming from the Mackey home outside Dromore last Friday week and would have been well pleased to hear the cheering which followed Native River’s victory in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Dairy farmer Fred Mackey, who bred the Indian River gelding, his wife Maureen, two of their three sons and some friends had taken a few hours off work to enjoy the racing coverage on television. The noise level grew throughout the afternoon, hitting its peak when Richard Johnson and the Colin Tizzard-trained chesnut crossed the line four and a half lengths clear of Might Bite.

“You must have heard us down in Dublin!” said Maureen who, after the race, began to field numerous calls of congratulations from family and friends. Fred and Maureen were also quickly invited to the St Patrick’s Day meeting at Down Royal and, although that fixture was postponed until Monday, they were delighted to attend.

The couple’s third son, Wilson, travelled over to Cheltenham and, after the Gold Cup got to talk to Colin Tizzard who, like the Mackeys, knows a lot about cows as well as horses.

Fred bred Native River out of the unraced Be My Native mare Native Mo and, in spite her son’s great record in recent seasons, was never going to hold on to any of her subsequent progeny as he nearly always sells his stock as foals.

Fred and Maureen did have a great deal of sympathy for Paddy Byrne who was standing Indian River at his Park House Stud in Tullow when the French-bred died in 2010. This season, Native Mo is visiting Conduit who stands locally in Banbridge with Hugh Suffern.