Phillip Enright brought his good run of form to Ballinrobe on Tuesday evening when he combined with trainer Charles Byrnes to win the three-mile one-furlong handicap hurdle with Metersandmasks. In the colours of owners Pauline Twiss and John Twiss, the six-year-old came from off the pace and got up on the line to deny the Shark Hanlon-trained 9/4 favourite Hewick by a head.
Gordon Elliott dominated at Down Royal on Friday evening where Jack Kennedy rode three winners for him and amateur rider Harry Swan completed a four-timer for the stable in the bumper. Elliott and Kennedy were off to a flyer as the Pioneer Racing-owned Shesadream won the opening mares’ hurdle, the 9/1 chance getting the better of the John McConnell-trained 4/6 favourite Anna Bunina by a length and three-parts. Banks Boy, owned by Anne Marie McManus-owned Banks Boy and bred by her brother Kieran, made no mistake as the 8/11 favourite when landing the maiden hurdle by the same margin. The six-year-old got the better of the Stuart Crawford-trained 4/1 shot Champ De Gane. Another in the colours of Pioneer Racing, the 7/2 chance Bravo Team, completed a treble for trainer and jockey with an eighth-length win in the two and a half-mile handicap hurdle. That wrapped up Kennedy’s evening but the Harry Swan-ridden The Last Mardi added to the Elliott haul when taking the bumper. The 11/8 favourite, owned in partnership by her breeder Sheila O’Ryan and Tom and Lenka Meagher, led a furlong from the finish to beat the Gavin Cromwell-trained 3/1 chance Miss Fourie by three-parts of a length.
Phillip Enright was on the mark again as he won the two-mile five-furlong maiden hurdle on 12/1 chance Maciver at Tramore on Saturday. Owned and bred by Ivor Dulohery, the Eoghan O’Grady-trained five-year-old scored by three and a half lengths from the Henry de Bromhead-trained Frontier General.
Jack Kennedy and Gordon Elliott rounded off a highly successful weekend as Call Me Lyreen took the beginners’ chase at Kilbeggan on Sunday. In the well-known colours of the Lyreen Syndicate, the six-year-old was clear from the second last fence as he beat Mark McNiff’s Custers Mistake by all of 44 lengths at odds of 5/2.
