THE Irish success in Wales continued into Sunday last weekend when the Cian Collins-trained Effernock Fizz gave the young Meath trainer a first big win in the prestigious DragonBet Welsh Champion Hurdle Limited Handicap at Ffos Las.

What better way to have your first UK winner than in a race titled ‘Champion Hurdle’!

The seven-year-old had also given Collins, who only held a licence since June, his first winner at Killarney in August.

“It was brilliant for it to come off, I was looking through the calendar and spotted it and thought it might cut up and not have too many entries and we’d go over and pick up some prize money,” he said this week.

The mare’s success was part of a great weekend for young rider Sam Ewing who as he had done on Saturday at Chepstow, judged things to perfection on the front runner.

“We did fancy her to run very well in it. Sam was brilliant on her, gave her a very good ride.”

Collins drove the mare over the night before and came back that night so there were no celebrations there, but for her owner Tommy Sheridan, who was not able to make it due to work, there was no shortage of celebrations back home.

“I didn’t get over, I had work commitments, it was last minute when we entered her. And it was Cian’s first runner in England so we weren’t sure of the logistics of getting her there. So I said the horse doesn’t need me there.

Still partying

“We watched it all on the telly and fairly roared the house down. Some of the lads are still partying!” Sheridan revealed.

For 24-year-old Collins, based in Robinstown in Co Meath, and has around 30 horses at different stages of preparing for a track career.

“It was great to get a bit more notice in a race like that. Hopefully to get a horse or two out of it,” he said.

Another trip across the water is on the cards as she is likely to be bound for Cheltenham next week. If the ground stays good, I think the plan will be to head over again, she came out of the race in great form,” Collins reported. And her owner has been looking at the programme book too.

“We are taking a chance, there’s nothing left on the cards for her in Ireland, we were going to pull the plug ‘til spring time, she really needs good ground and a left-handed track. At this stage we know all her quirks and let her tell us where she wants to run,” Sheridan said.

“The only thing coming up is a race at Cheltenham over fences, she’s been second three times over fences for us, third once and fourth once, always beat by a good horse. We are hopeful we can sneak in again.”

Sheridan bred the mare himself and has more of the family to come through.

“I still have the mare (Manx Fizz) and she’s back in foal at 22. I have half-sisters and half-brothers and a nice yearling by Capri too.

“Colin Keane is my nephew and the two Kelliher brothers, Donal and Liam, point-to-point jockeys, work with me part-time, they do a lot of the breaking and Colin’s father is next door.

Lucky colours

The yellow and green colours are beciomign quite familiar. “The colours were used when the lads were pony racing, that’s when we set them up first, they are a long time on the go. Donal won a Dingle Derby in them. So we couldn’t change when we went to the track, they have been lucky for us.

“We were very hopeful of a good run after she finished second in the Grade 2 the previous week. We were happy with her run in Tipperary so we said we’d look around for another pot.

The mare is a reward for perseverance too. “The first 15 or 16 runs we gave her, we were thinking of pulling the plug on her, we couldn’t get to the bottom of her, she was causing all sorts of problems. We did get her looked at by a vet and they found a problem with her, and within about five or six days of being fixed, she won her maiden by 15 lengths (Tipperary, May 2019)

“You have as many bad days as good days with horses but she’s keeping the bandwagon on the road,” siad her happy owner

“I would like to say thank you to her previous trainer, Katy Brown and Danny Dunne, she gave up the licence early in the year so that was the reason I switched. They had done all the hard work with her.

“I know Cian for years, he’s only over the road from me so I said we’d give him a chance starting out. Fizzy was his first winner, his first winner in his new box and his first winner in England!”

And what about a first Cheltenham winner?!