PAT HEALY: Pat gives an update from on the ground at the Listowel Harvest Festival ahead of a busy weekend of action.
Listowel
Everything’s going great here at Listowel for the Harvest Festival. The ground is in great condition and all the horsemen are happy with it, we’ve had great crowds and the weather has been really kind to us. Hopefully our good fortune with the weather continues into the weekend and on Friday for Ladies Day. We’re expecting 25,000 people or more on Friday and a further 10,000 more on Saturday so hopefully we can have two more fantastic days racing.
There’s a great atmosphere around town and people seem to really be enjoying themselves as they obviously haven’t been able to here since 2019. Willie Mullins and Paul Townend are dominating the jumps side of things so far, but we’re just delighted everyone can be here to enjoy it. It’s been a great festival so far.
Local jockey Brendan Lyons had his first career success at the start of the week for Eoin McCarthy, and it’s always good to see a local lad do well. I wish him all the success in the future.On the other side of the coin, Kevin Brouder, who had been out for 16 months after a nasty fall at Limerick over a year and a half ago, had come back racing in the last month and had a few winners, but he had even more bad luck when falling and breaking a leg at the weekend. It’s a hard game and hopefully he’ll bounce back again, but I really do wish him all the best.
Borris House Pony Racing
Shark Hanlon has organised a race meeting at Borris House on Sunday 2nd October. Pony racing was of course supposed to be cancelled for the year in light of the tragic recent event, but both Henry and Heather [de Bromhead] were keen for the meeting to go ahead as that’s what young Jack would have wanted. Shark has organised the meeting to raise money for the insurance needed to continue with pony racing. There is an auction with stable visits to Jackdaws Castle (Jonjo O’Neill), Ditcheat (Paul Nicholls), and Joseph O’Brien’s yard along with hotel and spa breaks, the list is endless at ponyracing.ie. I wish them all the best for the day as it’s a worthwhile cause and I know any donations will be greatly appreciated.
