THERE was a Co Antrim connection to at least three other winners at the Aintree Festival starting on Friday when the Warren Greatrex-trained Portrush Ted carried the colours of the McNeill family to victory in the Weatherbys Racing Bank bumper.

The six-year-old Shantou gelding, who won a Uttoxeter bumper on his debut just over a year ago and has run three times in the interim, was named after the owners’ late father/grandfather Ted McNeill, the professional golfer who hailed from the seaside resort town.