THERE have been a number of dead-heats on the racecourse and in the point-to-point sphere in recent weeks with the latest in Ireland being in the bumper at Fairyhouse last Sunday when the Harry Swan-partnered Kilbunny Pontic, who hadn’t the clearest of runs, got up to divide the spoils with the Pat Taaffe-ridden Royal Romeo who completed a double for trainer Noel Meade.

A four-year-old filly by Getaway, Kilbunny Pontic runs in the colours of the Delton Syndicate, which comprises members of the O’Hara family from Portlaw, and is now trained for them by David O’Brien. However, when the bay won her point-to-point maiden at Curraghmore in October she was then in the care of Richie O’Hara who would be better known to readers of this column as the man behind Kilbunny Sport Horses.

“When all the Covid restrictions came in last year but you were able to going point-to-pointing if you had a runner, Dad and I thought it would be a good idea to invest in a couple of pointers,” reported Richie. “It wasn’t until August that we finally got our act together so myself and David, who’s a good friend of ours and always very helpful, headed up to Tatts where we bought two fillies.

“Kilbunny Pontic cost us just €2,200, while Kilbunny Aplasia, who’s by Flemensfirth, was a bit more expensive at €8,000. We have her at home still and hopefully she will run shortly. Apart from my prefix, their names all come from the world of dentistry, as does the word Delton, and my father Richard and some of his friends from college were involved in the syndicate which owned Fissure Seal who won a good few races under Harry’s father Charlie Swan, including at Cheltenham.

“I couldn’t believe it when the mare got up to dead-heat on Sunday and I was hoarse shouting! I’ve had a great couple of months as, besides Kilbunny Pontic’s wins, I sold five three-year-olds at Monart, while our home-bred Kannan mare Kilbunny Vixen was placed in the six-year-old championship at Dublin with Francis Connors.”

Winning script

When not looking after all this thoroughbred and sport horse stock, Richie manages to do a few hours locum work in what had been his career as a pharmacist.