Dylan Browne McMonagle grabs impressive double as favourites struggle at Dundalk

Dylan Browne McMonagle capped a fine year by riding a double at Dundalk last Friday night. A year that has seen him ride his first Group One winner (Al Riffa at the Curragh in September) has also seen him ride 19 winners at the Stadium.

Friday’s double was instigated by Dreal Deal in the William Hill Pick Your Places Handicap.

Sent off at 4/1, the Ronan McNally-trained seven-year-old gelding was scoring for the first time since winning a remarkable six races in a row (flat and jumps) between September 2020 and January 2021.

He is set to return to the track later today in a bid to quickly follow up his latest victory, going down to the shorter trip 1 mile 4 furlongs, in the William Hill Play Responsibly Handicap which is due off at 17:15. At the time of writing the gelding was the 7/4 favourite. 

He won in fine style on Friday, in stark contrast to Dylan’s other winner, Blackstone Cliff (20/1), trained by Tom Gibney, who got home by the minimum margin of a nose in the first division of the Happy Christmas From All At Dundalk Stadium Handicap.

 “I had a willing partner, without a doubt,” said the winning rider. “He was tough and stuck at it.” With the first four home separated by a nose, a head and a short head, such qualities came in useful.

 The handicap’s second division saw the Chris Timmons-trained Mr Mills (11/2) gain a first career win on what was his tenth start, albeit just his third run at Dundalk. The winning rider was Robbie Colgan.

The card had opened with an impressive win for Song For Whoever (11/4), who landed the William Hill Lengthen Your Odds Maiden by three-and-a-half lengths in the hands of Ronan Whelan.

The drop to six furlongs from his previous run seemed to make all the difference to the John O’Donoghue-trained gelding who was having just his third run. He had finished second over six furlongs at Dundalk on his debut in September but had stepped up to seven furlongs for his second start on October 7th.

The winner is owned by the Genesis Thoroughbreds Club, who paid £42,000 for him at the Goffs UK Breeze-ups in April.

The only winning favourite on the card was the David Marnane-trained Freescape who, ridden by Billy Lee, beat the race’s other 3/1 joint-favourite Vina Sena into second place in the €22,000 Irishinjuredjockeys.com Handicap.

Freescape has been a star for Marnane, who said, “He loved that and Billy has given him a great spin. He’ll go to Dubai now and probably have three or four runs there. He has covered himself in glory out there before. He’s a fine, big horse and is genuine.” It was the seven-year-old’s sixth win at Dundalk.

With 17 winners this year at the Stadium, trainer Ado McGuinness has had another good year at Dundalk. The latest of them came on Friday when Is That Love (9/1) landed the William Hill Racing Radio Handicap under Adam Caffrey, who has had a breakthrough year.

Riding his eighth career winner was Sean Bowen, who won the Botanica International Ltd Maiden on Cristal Cleere (9/4), who is trained and owned by his uncle John Nallen.

The winning distance was a neck, with the Aidan O’Brien-trained Cyclamen filling the runner-up spot in what was a good finish.

Sam Ewing had a good year mixing his riding between flat and jumps and he added to his tally when Super Over (10/3) won the Story Of Dundalk Stadium Book Buy Online Apprentice Rated Race for trainer Denis Coakley, whose son Ross has had a very good spell riding in Britain.

The winner had been available at 11/1 on the morning of the race and was clearly well supported. Someone somewhere was able to swell their funds in time for Christmas.

Dundalk’s last fixture of 2022 will take place on later today, Wednesday December 21st. The first of eight races is due off at 4.15pm. It will be Christmas Party Night at the Stadium, so a good time (as usual) is on the cards.

It will also be the fixture where the 2022 TRM-sponsored Dundalk Trainer and Jockey Championships winners will receive their trophies.