BRIAN Hamilton may not have trained a winner recently but he ‘trained’ two trainers who did, Niall Quinn and Patrick Turley, who have both saddled their first winners on the racecourse – although some distance apart.

The first of the pair to strike was Quinn whose charge, Country Bumpkin, made an impressive winning debut over fences at Awapuni in New Zealand two weeks ago. As here, owners are not allowed to go racing but no doubt they remotely adhered to Quinn’s two-rule policy: “They have to have a good time and they are not allowed to moan!”