AN ambitious Irish adventure for American trainer Keri Brion ended on a high as The Mean Queen bolted up in a mares’ maiden hurdle at Wexford last Friday to bring the curtain down on her trainer’s near fourth-month stint on these shores.
After getting off the mark with Scorpion’s Revenge at Cork the previous Sunday, Brion’s final runner in Ireland for this season looked to hold compelling claims. On her racecourse debut, which came for Yvonne Latta, this daughter of Doyen chased home a very smart mare in Sayce Gold, and even better was to come on her first start for her current trainer when she filled the runner-up spot behind Me Too Please at Down Royal.
The latter’s subsequent success in the mares’ bumper at Aintree put that Down Royal effort in an altogether better light and it was no surprise to see The Mean Queen returned at 4/5. A first winner for amateur rider John James O’Neill in well over three years, The Mean Queen looked a likely winner from some way out and she eventually recorded a smooth six-and-a-half-length triumph.
“It’s been a great last week. I’d say we’ll come back again now that I have a better idea what it takes and what kind of horses you want,” said the trainer whose nine-strong team were set to head back to America last Sunday.
“The owners seem to get a kick out of it and hopefully next year they can actually come over and be at the races which would be fun. I expected a big run from this mare today and we thought we’d try and win a maiden here and go on to bigger things in America.”
With her two recent winners Brion became the first American trainer to send out a winner in Ireland since Frank Mourier landed a Bellewstown maiden with Sir Azzaro back in July 2001.
Impressive
There was another useful mare on show in Colin Bowe’s Mt Leinster Gold who maintained her impressive winning sequence in the Brendan Cullimore Electrical Novice Hurdle.
A three-time winner in points and successful on her racecourse debut in a Fairyhouse maiden in February, this Anthony Kearns-owned mare produced a nice effort in an appreciably tougher assignment.
Top amateur Barry O’Neill had the 15/2 shot looking on from second throughout this three-mile affair before sending her to the front as the runners turned for home for the final time. In the closing stages Mt Leinster Gold always looked to be doing enough and she reached the line with three parts of a length to spare over Rocky’s Howya. The winner should make a nice staying novice chaser next term.
JUST over two years after he enjoyed his finest hour with a victory in the Grade 1 Maghull Novices Chase at Aintree, the Henry de Bromhead-trained Ornua regained the winning thread in the Garryrichard Stud Veteran’s Handicap Chase.
The 10-year-old was making a quick return to the fray after coming up short in a Fairyhouse Grade 2 won by Easy Game on Monday but he took it in his stride. In customary style, Ornua raced on the pace for Dylan Robinson and the 11/4 favourite had most of his rivals beaten when he pressed on for home before the second last.
However, the John Phelan-owned son of Mahler was all out at the line where he had just a neck to spare over the resurgent Fine Theatre who won the comparable race here 13 months ago. This was a welcome change of luck for the winning rider who missed a critical four-month spell of the season as a result of a fall he sustained at Navan in early November which left him with a broken back.
Richie Deegan bagged his third winner as a professional jockey when he teamed up with Paul Nolan’s Fortune Street (10/1) in the M & T Plant Hire Maiden Hurdle over two and a half miles.
The Softco-owned eight-year-old, whose previous success came in a bumper at this track in October 2019, deserved to get his turn and came here off a respectable second to Viscount Gort at Thurles last month.
The 114-rated gelding produced quick jumps at the last two flights to get the better of the front-running Gladiatorial and then held off the oncoming Lucky Tenner by a length and a half.
SEVERAL jockeys who will never forget the 2021 Fairyhouse Easter Festival made their presence felt here and they included Irish Grand National hero Ricky Doyle who combined with owner-breeder-trainer Pat Fitzgerald to win the Traynor’s Of Wexford Novice Handicap Chase with Champagne Beauty.
This seven-year-old showed commendable honesty on the run to the last as she could easily have been unsettled and forced out of the race by a loose horse, but she remained unflappable, cleared the fence without fuss and held off The Echo Boy by a neck. A mares’ handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival could be next for the 4/1 chance whose fine attitude should stand her in good stead over the coming months.
The Skyace team of Shark Hanlon and Jody McGarvey, successfully combined with The Cool Dude (11/2) who picked up the Traynor’s Of Wexford-sponsored 0-102 rated handicap chase over an extended three miles. A mere five-year-old, the Rachel O’Neill-owned winner was sporting first-time cheekpieces for his handicap debut and he reached the line with five and a half lengths to spare over Enduring Love.
Elsewhere, the three-time flat winner Getaway Queen (4/1) got off the mark over jumps at the sixth attempt in the 80-95 rated handicap hurdle over two miles. Sean Flanagan produced the Ken Budds inmate to challenge at the last and she finished well on her first start for two months to defeat Just Another Lady by two and a half lengths.