BARRY O’NEILL’S THOROUGHBID BLOG: A SPECIAL MOMENT TO RIDE 650 WINNERS
Oct 1, 2021
Back in the swing of things
It’s great to get back to some sort of normality after everything that has gone and to be back at Point-To-Points again. It was a great feeling to be back riding and I’m looking forward to really getting into the swing of things in the coming months.
When we were racing during the worst of the pandemic it was unusual, but from a rider’s perspective you get up on the horse and are in the zone, you’ve only one thing in your mind – it’s not the crowd you’re worrying about. Obviously, it’s really nice to have a crowd and everyone back, though.
A winning return to the saddle
I knew I had a nice couple of rides over the weekend, but to be honest, I’d have been happy had I come away with a winner on both days. To ride two winners on Saturday was great and then to have three at my local track, Monksgrange, which is only five minutes up the road, was very special.
It hadn’t crossed my mind that Music Of Tara was the 650th winner of my career but it’s a nice number and I’m obviously very proud to reach the milestone. Hopefully I can add a few to that this season and just keep driving on.
Here are my thoughts on a few of my winning rides from over the weekend.
Reddys Island
She’s improved a lot and is a very nice mare. Some would say that maybe she was a bit lucky [to win], but I felt she was very green and just lacks a bit of experience. She hit the line strongly, though, and I think the best mare won on the day. There should be loads more to come from her with the experience under her belt.
Music Of Tara
She was a very expensive store with a great pedigree, and we had great expectations for her starting off on the racecourse. Hopefully further down the line you’ll hear more of her because I think she’s got a lot of ability. Given she was my 650th winner in Point-To-Points, I’ll be following her progress very closely!
Music Drive
He was upsides at the last fence at Tipperary last season when he took a fall and you can never be quite sure how they are going to be after that. It was nice to get his head in front this time because we think a lot of him and thought he would win. He went and got the job done nicely.
They’ll all go to sale now and hopefully they all go on to do well for their next owners.