OF the eight Grade 1 races run at Leopardstown last weekend, three of the winners were trained by Willie Mullins and two by Gordon Elliott with four of those five having been purchased at one stage by Harold Kirk.

The Unibet Irish Gold Cup winner Bellshill was of most interest to Northern readers having been sold as a foal at the 2010 Tattersalls Ireland November Sale by his Co Cork breeder, Frank Motherway, to Cullybackey’s Ian Ferguson. The latter was acting on behalf of Wilson Dennison in whose colours the King’s Theatre gelding was second in a four-year-old maiden at Moira in March 2014 on his only start between the flags. Bellshill was a 4/6 chance that day, with punters obviously sharing the confidence of the bay’s then trainer, Colin McKeever who commented: “He always struck us as a real good horse and I told someone that morning that there wasn’t a four-year-old alive that could beat him but, as it turned out, there was!”