Performance Review

November 2020

The Irish Turf Season came to a close this month and we were able to bring our final tally to 21 winners thanks to a lovely performance at the Curragh from Claonadh, (Gaelic for Clane), I named her after the town I came from and where my father trained.

She is a nice filly, bred by John Fielding near Naas and we were delighted with how she strengthened up throughout the year. It was great to have her make a winning debut and hopefully there should be plenty of fun to be had with her next year.

Claonadh makes her winning debut at the Curragh

Mogwli has had a very good season and ran another solid race when second on the same card under Emma Doyle. We have given him some time off and we are currently breaking his half-brother by Raven's Pass.

Things did not work out smoothly for Wood Ranger in the Tally-Ho Stud Irish EBF Birdcatcher Premier Nursery, but I thought he still ran well to be third and he is one we can look forward to next season. He doesn’t mind a cut in the ground and we could look to have him out nice and early next year, hoping to get some black type for Noelle and Jim Walsh.

Always Waitin is going in the right direction and I was happy with how he ran when second to a good winner at Dundalk during the month. He got shuffled back a little but travels so easily that I think seven furlongs could be his trip. He has come on from that run again and we look forward to getting him out early in the new year. He loves the surface up there but after three quick runs we just want to give him some time.

Lady Ironside ran well at the Curragh when third in an apprentice handicap over a mile and a half under Nathan Crosse. The cut in the ground seemed to suit her there but she was a bit disappointing at Dundalk since.

Finally, it was good to see Paloise run well on her first start in a nursery when third on the all-weather. She is a raw two-year-old and we expect her to come on for each of her runs. The plan is for her to head back to Dundalk again next month so hopefully she can do better again.

The past few months have obviously been a strange time for everyone and we are all looking forward to hopefully getting a clear run at next year’s turf season. We really need our owners back on the racecourses so fingers crossed we can return to some sort of normality in that sense before long.