Stanerra is our 15th choice.

Do you have any memory of Stanerra , a mare that paved the way to the east?

Email, tweet or Facebook your memories.

Do you remember Monksfield?

Probably the bravest and courageous entire horse to race over hurdles ,Monksfield has left us many memories.

Tell us yours by email, facebook or twitter.

Cheltenham Day 2….schh its got to be Whisper.

Douvan will be the star turn today for Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh. My fancy today is Whisper in the 2.10 RSA Chase at Cheltenham for Davy Russell and Nicky Henderson.

Stilletto puts the boot in for Latta as he tops the Brightwells Sale.

The Cheltenham Open Race meeting includes a sale of Horses In Training under the Brightwells banner with the focus primarily on horses with form between the flags.

Young Co Wexford Point to Point handler Andrew Latta sold the evenings top lot when Stilletto was knocked down to Roger Brookhouse for £130k.

The 5 year son on Westerner made his debut at the Iveagh Harriers meeting at Maralin on the 8th of the month a winning one under Barry O’Neill.

He created a headline or two after his all the way win there in the colours of his owner breeder William Powell-Harris and that good impression translated into a good price here.

Latta ,based outside of Enniscorthy , Co Wexford got his sales topper out before the floods hit the area over the past few days and must have been pleased with the result.

Brookhouse is a regular investor at sales such as this and while plans for the horse maybe a little unclear, Latta and his relations will be hoping to put the boot in on future occasions after this success with Stilletto!

The Kilworth and Araglen meeting last weekend saw Pat Doyle saddle Amber Gambler to win under Derek O’Connor.

This German bred son of Doyen, will transfer to Rebecca Curtis in Wales following a bid of £125k this evening.

Doyen now stands at Michael Hickeys Co Kildare Sunnyhill Stud , following a sojourn in Britain and Germany.

With less than 60 lots on offer during the evening including last weekends 4 Year Old Maiden winner For Instance at the Wexford Foxhound meeting at Ballinaboola. William and Jamie Codd shared this win on For Instance which raced in Jean Codds silks.

The son of Milan was signed for by Ross Doyle at the sale having bid £85k.

Codd was keen to emphasise on that day the ability of the horse and while running a little green his new owners will be keen to see him progress from the Point to Point fields.

He already has bumper form so it might well be money well spent.

£80k secured Shantou Village this evening, with the Denis Murphy trained horse being knocked down to Neil Mulholland.

A debutante winner at Loughanmore on the 25th of October in the hands of Jamie Codd, the son of Shantou based in Burgage Stud , Co Carlow raced in the colours of Thomas O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan and Murphy are becoming a real force in this sector and don’t be surprised to see more winners from this duo.

Whats on this Week?

On the Track:

25th Downpatrick, 26th Ballinrobe (e), 27th Bellewstown (e), 28th Bellewstown (e), Tipperary (e), 29th Down Royal (e), 30th Wexford, 31st Cork, Curragh.

Whats on this Week?

On the Track:

14th Tramore (e), 16th Dundalk (e), 17th Tipperary (e), 19th Cork, 20th Cork , Fairyhouse, 21st Cork, Fairyhouse.

Point to Points:

16th Killeagh (H), 20th Co Clare (H), Waterford (F), Laois (F).

Indications are that no one is going to get anything easy after this Codd treble up North.

With all eyes on Aintree Wexford man Jamie Codd didn’t let the Liverpool spectacle intrude on his day when he rode a nice treble at Toomebridge at the Mid Antrim Hunt meeting.

He shot off a quick double in the first two races for fellow Wexford man Denis Murphy, when taking the 4 year old maiden on Corner Creek.

This son of Presenting is owned by Maria Byrne and is likely to be sold on after this winning debut. Codd and Murphy have struck a bit of form in this category and their runners should be kept in mind.

Codd and Murphy then took the 5 year old geldings maiden with the Blueprint horse, Winter Walk, which has had some nice placed form to his name already this season. With Pat Coffey listed as the owner most of these horses are traded on and this one wont be the exception from what I can see.

With Co Wicklow based trainer Philip Rothwell sending a team of runners to the meeting he managed to set up Codd for his treble on Flight Line in the Mares Maiden.

This Flying Legend 5 year old had run well at Maralin last time out and Codd won here in Rothwell’s own colours.

Rothwell doubled up in the last contest when Barry O’Neill got the leg up on According To Dan in the Older Geldings Maiden with the 9 year old Accordion horse finally winning for his owner trainer.

Codds major challenger for the jockeys championship Derek O’Connor didn’t go home empty handed as he teamed up with Colin McKeever and Wilson Dennison to win with the Kayf Tara 5 year old Ballycamp.

The only other winner on the day saw the 13 year old veteran Send For Paddy take the Open under Mark O’Hare.

With racing all over the country tomorrow Codds treble is a market that no one is going to get anything easy wherever they turn up!

Can David Christie reel in Tyner as the Ladies shoot it out at Templemore?

Its an Open weekend with Lightweights on the card at all venues racing this weekend.

With our Open winners transferring their form to the top Hunter Chases in Britain with wins for Tammys Hill at Cheltenham and Warne at Aintree the strength in depth of the northern based horses is evident for all to see.

David Christie will be hoping that that strength can be translated to the Open Lightweights this weekend as he tries to reel in Robert Tyner in the trainers championship.

The Mid Antrim fixture at Toomebridge sees 11 horses entered in the Donnelly and Taggert Open with Christie accounting for three of them. With Slippers Percy and The Last Derby here ,Bally Beaufort from Colin McKeevers yard could be a real serious challenger yet again.

Funnily enough all of these three horses turn up again at Castletown-Geoghegan on Sunday for the Greville Arms Hotel Open. Here they are joined by Sebadee for Denis Cullen and Vincent Halleys Boxing Along in addition to Kanesh for Brendan Sweeney and Liam Kennys Vital Plot. I would fancy Kennys flat bred horse but the ground needs to be sound so it all depends on the rain that has fallen in the Midlands in the past few days.

Denis Cullens Sebadee might just take what looks like the easier option , on paper at least, at the Louth Foxhound meeting at Tallanstown for the Bernard Woods and Dundalk Stadium contest. With 20 entries here a returning to form Nedzer’s Return could give him most to do, with an interesting entry in the shape of Irene Walshes Pocket Reader and Eamonn O’Connells Top Four.

Both Pocket Reader and Top Four hold an entry in the United Hunt fixture at Ballynoe for the Hayes and O’Leary sponsored race. With Buster Dan Dan among the 16 entries here it also includes Eoin Doyles Davy From Milan on a bit of a retrieval mission, Lanespark returning to action for the Spillanes , Oscar Barton for Sam Curling and Nevskij for Paul O’Flynn.

The final Open of the weekend sees the Bluegrass Horse Feeds Ladies Open at Templemore for the Suir Vale Hunt.

Here we have 8 horses entered with Long Strand for Evanna McCutcheon , The Holinwell with Maxine O’Sullivan and Powerfulpaddy for Racheal Blackmore.

That looks potentially like a female version of the gun fight at the OK Corral …. Not to be missed if you are on the course!!!!

Its a busy weekend with great interest now on all the championships as we move into the last couple of months.

Go out an enjoy at least one of these fixtures over the weekend and keep an eye on any championship winning moves!

Codd headlines Monksgrange with a fourtimer.

With action all over the country in the point to point fields the Bree Foxhounds staged their spring fixture at Monksgrange. This track, owned by the Hill family of Dawn Run fame is one of the finest in the South East of Ireland and is well supported as a schooling venue and as a point to point fixture.

With heavy rain in the area for the best part of twelve hours on Saturday ,organisers were lucky to race today as the ground was very heavy on all sides of the track.

The original entry of 106 had 65 declarations which saw the good attendance enjoy six competitive races and a headline catching four timer from Jamie Codd.

Codd had seen his lead in jockeys championship reduced to two following a treble at Durrow, Co Offaly yesterday, but this four timer restored a healthier lead for Codd before heading into the first week of April.

Racing opened with the Tattersalls 4 Year Old Geldings Maiden where just 7 of the original entry of 14 faced the starter.

This race promised much with the 2/1 on shot Potters Point all the rage in the betting ring for the Colin Bowe / Barry O’Neill partnership. This son of Robin Des Champs looked a picture in the parade ring with the Denis Murphy trained Jeweloftheocean the 4/1 second favourite looking like playing a supporting role on the day.

Things however don’t always go to script and Jeweloftheocean surprised backers by getting the better of the odds on favourite and win.

Making his debut here in the colours of Tipperary based Pat Coffey, the 4 year old son of Flemensfirth looks like being a future star in the making following this win here under Jamie Codd.

With the Gary Murphy setting the early pace on the wayward running Windy Writer, the nice even pace let the others settle with Poulanassy racing prominently.

Following the departure of Windy Writer five out, Barry O ‘Neill hit the front with Potters Field three fences from home but he was being ominously stalked by a dangerous looking Jamie Codd.

Just nodding after the second last Codd had to shake up Jeweloftheocean and they got past the leader to win by half a length.

Speaking afterwards in the winners enclosure the winning trainer Denis Murphy commented ” It was good to win, we had a lot of nerves before hand. Paul Gahan has been raving about him way before Christmas and Jamie has thought highly of him. We will go to Brightwells next to the sales.”

Codd’s number two came in the very next race when he won the Cooney Furlong Grain Winners Of Two on Fence Me In for the absent owner /trainer Tom Keating. This 8 year old son of Old Vic was winning his third point to point in a pretty emphatic style.

With Sharp Shot trying to make every post a winning one, we had four horses in a line with two fences to jump. Codd however was in the vanguard and he drove the even money chance through to lead and land the odds by six lengths.

With Keating saddling another runner in Cloyne his connections here indicated that they would keep going a similiar route of Opens and Winners.

Liam Kenny has his yard in nice form again , with the north Co Wexford based trainer saddling the Frank Byrne owned Ballyboker Breeze when taking the Connollys Redmills 6 Year Old Geldings Maiden.Ridden with with aplomb by the man of the day Jamie Codd the Gold Well 6 year old the 6/4 favourite was prominent most of the way and held Brian Hamiltons Big Kern.

Owned and bred by Frank and Olivia Byrne from their south Wexford base this horse will ” Go for a Winners of One if not sold” according to Kenny.

A faller at both Ballyraggett and The Pigeons on his last two starts Kenny added ” He would love this ground here, he jumps well so I will talk to the owners about future plans.”

Jamie Codd rounded off his day when taking the Slaney Food International Mares Maiden on Quiet Candid for Jonathon Fogarty.

This was a wonderful training performance by Fogarty, as the 5 year old Beneficial mare was making her racecourse debut here to give Fogarty, a brother of Cheltenham winning jockey, Mikey Fogarty his very first winner as a trainer with the only horse he has in training.

Owned by Fogarty and the three O’Connor brothers, David, Richard and Joe the Cleariestown Co Wexford based native operates from Gaynestown Stud.

The future plans for the mare were on hold as the celebrations needed to be be organised by the sound of things afterwards!!!!

With the Susan O’Gorman trained favourite Duplicate Daughter falling 6 fences out it was left to Mark Scallan and Marira to throw down a challenge to the well supported Codd ridden horse.

Codd very nearly had a fifth winner as he fell at the last fence when in the lead in the Five Year Old Geldings Maiden on the Denis Murphy trained Lough Derg Walk.

This seemed to open the door for Graphical and David Cogley to benefit but in the melee after the last they lost their momentum and saw Harry Kelly’s Return Mission burst through under Paul
Power to win by three quarters of a length.

While the Co Tipperary based Kelly the winning trainer and owner was in Limerick to saddle another runner he indicated through connections “He was wrong the last day, we got him right now and he is for sale.”

Codd wasn’t eligible to ride in the Nitrofert Older Geldings Maiden which was restricted to novice riders, but for that we might have had another number for the headline!!!

Here the 2/1 chance Hasty Times opened his account for Co Kildare trainer Ross O’Sullivan and novice rider Roderic Kavanagh. This 9 year old son of Accordion had a nice bit of track form in the past and won this in a driving finish from Burning Issues by a head. With O’Sullivan since December the plan is to run in the Bishopscourt Cup at the Punchestown festival in April.

Owned by the winning jockeys mother Antoinette her 21 year old 6 ft 3 inches son commented ” That was my fifth winner, I tried to conserve his stamina on the ground, but a bit of better ground and the two and a half mile trip of the Cup will suit.”

It’s Ladies Day this Mothers Day in the Point to Point fields!

The Point to Point roadshow moves on this weekend to Durrow for the Brosna Foxhound meeting on Saturday, with the Co Offaly track also staging the second of their two day fixture on Sunday the 30th. They share Mothers Day with the Cloyne Hunt meeting at Dromahane and the Bree Foxhound fixture at Monksgrange.

In a strange way its the “women” who take centre stage with the only two Open Lightweights scheduled of the weekend being a Mares Open at Dromahane and a Ladies Open at Durrow.

With Glenwood, Tullamore sponsoring the Ladies Open a bumper entry of 18 horses are listed for the fixture on the 30th.

With a really classy line up it is shaping up as the race of the weekend with Oscar Barton, Davy From Milan, Long Strand, Pocket Reader and Sebadee all in the mix.

Sam Curling has had the 9 year old Oscar gelding Oscar Barton in really good form of late running prominently at Lismore and Lemonfield in Open company under Derek O’Connor.

Davy From Milan has tried to step up from the point to point fields to Hunter Chase’s for Eoin Doyle twice this month and while running well for Barry O’Neill hasn’t gotten his head in front.

He might return to this level on Sunday but there is no guarantee that he will have it all his own way.

Long Strand is a bit of a standing dish at Lingstown over the “banks” and while winning a really good Open at Bandon for Evanna McCutcheon the 10 year old son of Saddlers’ Hall will need to even better that mark to win here.

With the 8 year old Sonus gelding Pocket Reader and Irene Walsh finishing second at Bandon, they didn’t build on that good run at Kilworth failing to ignite behind Capal Dubh Alainn and the disqualified Isourbell.

When you add in Denis Cullen’s Sebadee coming right back to form at Ballyraggett under Sonny Carey following a very lack lustre performance at Punchestown in December his declaration here is one to be noted. The Cape Cross 10 year old saw his form franked at Borris last week with Vital Plot whom he defeated at the Co Kilkenny meeting winning convincingly.

Throw in River Call for Aine Dagg and Annie Bowles’s Nedzer’s Return and the only mare in the field Mandy Carroll and it promises much.

It’s potentially a very good race with all of our top Lady riders pitting their skills against one an other.

The equine Ladies have there day at the Dromahane with East Cork Oil Mares Open sponsoring the Cloyne Hunt race.

With 8 entries here the previously mentioned Mandy Carroll has an entry at the Co Cork meeting with the John Walsh trained Carroll House 10 year old likely to try her luck at this venue.

The regular mount of young Co Wexford based jockey Gary Murphy, the much placed mare has found it hard to get home in front over the years.

As is customary when Sheila Ahern faces the starter on the 12 year old Isourbell they will all have to try to get past this pair of ladies if they hope to win.

While a beaten second at Kilworth the Executive Perk mare still ran creditably to merit consideration here.

One or two other entries are noticeable with Paul Flynn’s Pops Well could well make the transition from Winners Class under Ciaran Fennessy here. While Robert Tyners Bingo Bash and Evanna McCutcheon’s Nhakira are also worthy of mention.

It is a genuine Ladies day this Mothers Day go on out and enjoy it!