KATESBRIDGE trainer Jerry Cosgrave enjoyed a special moment at Dundalk on Friday evening when recording his first success on the flat with the Ross Coakley-ridden No Trouble.
The three-year-old No Nay Never gelding is the first flat horse trained by Cosgrave who gave £3,500 for the bay at Ascot in July. Out of the unraced Cape Cross mare Lady Babooshka, who comes from the family of Alkaadhem and Stagecraft, No Trouble was having his fifth start for his owner/trainer on Friday having previously been in the care of Stuart Williams and Jeremy Noseda.
“We weren’t too sure what trip he really wanted,” said Cosgrave. “He has improved for the cheekpieces we put on him the last two times and he really seems to love Dundalk, which is very handy for us! He looks like a nice, wee horse and we should have a bit of fun with him.”
No Trouble was led up on Friday by Frank Kelly, while also on hand to greet the winner was Ruth Arthur who looks after the entries and all the paperwork at Cosgrave’s Shanrod Stables.
Jerry has been taking great pleasure over the past two seasons in seeing graduates of his Co Down yard, Battleoverdoyen and Honeysuckle, do so well on the track. “I think Mount Ida is also going to be very good and I just hope we have some more like them for this point-to-point season,” said Cosgrave, who saddled Battleoverdoyen to win his maiden at Loughanmore in April 2017, Honeysuckle to land hers at Dromahane in April 2018, and Mount Ida to score at Tattersalls this time last year.
Bargain mare
When last weekend’s Hatton’s Grace Hurdle winner Honeysuckle landed that Dromahane maiden she was led up by her owner, Sara O’Hare, whose husband Mark rode the bay that day and who had given €9,500 for her at Tattersalls Ireland’s 2017 Derby Sale.
“I just liked what I saw and she was in my price range,” answered the Banbridge farrier when asked why he had purchased the Sulamani mare who was bred in Britain by Geoffrey Guy on whose behalf she was consigned to the Derby Sale by the Dorset-based operation, The Glanvilles Stud. “She was very athletic and very correct.”
For this point-to-point season, the O’Hares have a four-year-old Jeremy filly named Crumb Of Comfort, who is due to make her debut after Christmas, while their Cosgrave-trained Doyen bay Wigglesworth is on the bottom of the list of 59 entries for the four-year-old geldings’ maiden at Tattersalls tomorrow and at the bottom of 54 for a similar race at Borris House.
Out of an unraced Anshan half-sister to Arctic Copper, Wigglesworth cost the O’Hares €25,000 in a private transaction at the 2018 Derby Sale.
Given that the autumn campaign concludes tomorrow, it’s not surprising to see so many Northern handlers well-represented at the two Eastern Region meetings.
THE Suffern family’s Tullyraine House once again features on Irish Thoroughbred Marketing’s 2020 Irish stallion trail but note that, if you are interested in viewing Conduit, the Banbridge establishment will only be open on Friday, January 10th, between 10am and 4pm.