Report and Results:

The ILDRA race ride series is now well on its way. After a very anxious and nervous time during the lead in to the first race, at Kinnity, a nice field of eight participants went under starters orders at 0900 hrs all having passed the veterinary inspection with soon to be dentist Conor O’Hara. Held on St Patrick's weekend to avoid clashing with Easter the following weekend, the weather was very kind and ideal for endurance. Not having had a race for some time those who remained at the venue were some what startled by the early arrival of the crew vehicles in the venue for the halfway inspection. This boded well for the start of the series. All the riders were getting stuck in to the spirit of the series and enjoying themselves.

Setting the pace out in front was a group of three Jane Stanley, Michael Griffin and Thomas Roche. These riders had supported one another by all taking their turn to keep the pace up. They were quickly followed in by Helen McFarland and shortly afterwards by Bernie and Dawn LeadonBolger and Terry and Evelyn Moore. All passed the vet with an average presentation time of 5Mins 23Secs this was exceptionally good given the speeds they were riding at. To give an indication of how competitive everyone was there was only 16 Mins between first and last entering the vetgate after 40 Km riding.

The second loop was just as competitive as the first loop. With the three amigos up in front setting the pace. Helen McFarland set her own pace in behind them, as part of her overall year plan, while a gap opened up with the remaining riders. WOW a race ride over at 15 Mins to 2PM an organisers dream. In a very tight finish Michael Griffin came in just ahead of Jane Stanley with just 2 seconds between them after 80 Km (50 Miles) how bad can that be. They were quickly followed by Thomas Roche and Helen McFarland. The winning speed was 19.04KPH and the average presentation time was 7 Mins. After a presentation of Easter Eggs and Rosettes to all the burning question became “what is my handicap for the next race”. This was going to change the whole complexion of the race tactics for the remainder of the series. The results to date complete with handicaps and results can be seen elsewhere on the web site. Check them out.

Report and Results:

The second race in the series was to be held in Donard on the 6^th of Apr. Unfortunately an overnight snow caused the organiser Leinster Chairman Pat O’Reilly to abandon the race for safety reasons. This was most disappointing, especially for David and Helen McFarland who had come down the night before. The race was rescheduled for the 20^th of Apr. A field of eight started for the second race in the series. With Michael Griffin opting to do a 96 Km qualifier and Helen McFarland unable to attend, however a new entry to race riding was Larry O’Neill. Do we call him second jockey to Edward Allens yard? After an anxious start by some riders all eventually got away. The morning while dry was extremely cold add to this the high number of gates that had to be opened and it was easy to appreciate why the speed might not be quite as fast as at the Kinnity race. While all got through the midway inspection Evelyn Moore did get a bit of a fright with a high heart rate and a representation. The average present time was 7Mins 54Secs almost a full minute longer than the finish average at Kinnity. Evelyn's represent would have contributed to this. All set off on their second loop and returned home in pretty much the same order as they left the vetgate. Jane Stanley was first home at 17.67KPH, she was followed in some 27Mins later by Evelyn Moore and Mum Terry. However when the handicap came into play Evelyn Moore was the winner, with Terry second and Jane Stanley in third. The average presentation time was 10Mins 39Secs a long way up from the first race but it did appear from anecdotal evidence that the cold on Church Mountain did drain the horses somewhat. 

When you look at the results table you will see that Jane Stanley is now in first position overall, with Evelyn Moore in second and Thomas Roche in third. We can now look forward in confidence to the third race in the series where the handicap has changed considerably and is over a smaller range.

There were some misgivings about the parameters for this series in the initial planning stage. Rider and Horse preparation and management has been excellent and what was supposed to be a challenge to riders, horses and crews has not materialized because the participants are so far ahead of the game. It says a lot about the way the organisation has progressed at Gold level, when one thinks that a few years ago 80Km at 10KPH seemed like the end of the World.

Report and Results:

You might wonder why Donard II, well for reasons best known to others it was not possible to run Oldcourt. A poll of the race riders was taken on running this the third leg of the race series over the same course in Donard. The original intention was to run all five legs on different courses. The day forecast as a good day opened up with heavy rain and the omens were not good. But as luck would have it, it opened up into a scorcher of a day. Unfortunately a few horses were absent through no fault of their riders.

As the riders brought their horses up for vetting, everybody was enquiring about the whereabouts of series favourite Michael Griffin. Shortly after start time a text arrived from Michael expressing his regret but that he had an emergency to deal with at home. This brought us all back down to earth and all hoped Michael would be OK.

The riders set off in a shower of rain and Gabriel Lennon accompanied by his brother Brian had a fine breakfast before heading off to crew, they said they were getting their priorities right. All six combinations set off at a good lick, with the overall pace being up somewhat on the previous race.

Jane Stanley was first into vetgate 1 at 11:13am and a quick presentation time with a good vetting saw the midway vetting off to a good start.  She was followed by Thomas Roche on Flint and Larry O’Neill on Jasiana in quick time. Here Larry passed out Flint with a two minute faster presentation time. This was a good example of the gains to be made in a vetgate. Next in was Emer Lennon on Damascus, having her first major outing since his difficulties of last year. Next in was the Galeshill pair of Evelyn Moore and her mum Terry.

At long last the crews seem to have got a grip on the handicap system and this was evidenced by their interest in the out times at the halfway. There was no great change in the placings during the second half of the race. All retained their positions with the exception of Damascus who slipped back to last place and the messages started to fly on the mobiles as crews set about achieving the best result for the riders while trying to protect their handicap.

First home was Jane Stanley who with two wins without handicap only needs to win one of the next two races to win the prize for the best results without a handicap. Next in was Thomas Roche followed  by Larry O’Neill and a short distance later Evelyn Moore on her amazing pony Dawn, this tiny pony is really putting it up to the horses. Some while later a much relieved Emer Lennon on Damascus cantered in. A big worry put to bed for Emer.

Once more the handicap kicked in change the placings, with Jane Stanley who crossed the line first being relegated to 5^th place. Had she finished three minutes quicker she would have finished in 3^rd place. Thomas Roche was the overall winner, with Larry O’Neill in 2^nd place.

On the leader board the lead has changed with every race, with the first three on 22, 21 & 20 points respectively. So its still all to play for as we enter the last two races. We must nor forget that ultimately it is the best four results that will count, so it could go down to the last race, when we will see the true performance of all the horses as handicap preservation will not be a factor.

On the domestic front Peter O’Carroll was doing a Silver CTR on his good looking stallion Shannis, while Andrea made best use of both sets of Grandparents to get a crew for Peter and a babysitter for new arrival Willow.

It was very encouraging to see the large turn out of pleasure riders.