Donegal Harriers enjoy traditional meet at Dunmore House

The Donegal Harriers enjoyed some challenging ground over the holiday break, with the traditional St Stephen's day meet being held at Dunmore House, Carrigans by kind invitation of the McFarland family

The hosts provided a welcome stirrup cup to warm the cockles of the hearts of the followers. The Dutch courage provided by a hot toddy definitely helps bolster the nerves before facing the walls and hedges of the surrounding country and with a few of the field needing a hair of the proverbial dog there weren’t many cups being refused.

The cold weather certainly blew away any cobwebs remaining after the Christmas dinner as riders endeavoured to stick with the hounds. Rider’s coordination may have been suffering somewhat, judging by some unplanned dismounts throughout the day, but what happens on the hunting field stays on the hunting field so we won’t go into details!

New Year's day saw the hardier revellers meet near Sion Mills on the land of Mark and Denise Adams and Clark Magee. This was new country for the Harriers and required a lot of preparation, which was manfully handled by Enda Houston, Michael Crawford and Uel Vance.

Riders were rewarded after their day with a welcome bowl of rich stew, provided by the generous Karla Scott. With a full calendar of meets stretching ahead for the Donegal Harriers members will be glad of the chance to ditch their breeches and don their finery for the hunt ball on January 14.

On the racing scene the Ramelton sired, Mayo National-winning rider Kieran Callaghan continued his brilliant start to life in the saddle when riding Ganapathi to an easy victory in the 2m4f novice chase at Wexford on Wednesday.
Callaghan, who won Ballinrobe's showpiece event on Rock Road last Tuesday, took his career tally to five on Ganapathi and it was trainer Willie Mullins' 13th winner in the last fortnight.

Kieran provides the local interest for the jump racing enthusiasts now that Conor Orr has decided not to renew his licence for the 2023 season. Conor began his career as an apprentice with Joanna Morgan before moving to Eddie Lynam, and on to Shane Donoghue when his weight forced a move to the jumping game. He spent three years in Wales with Evan Williams where he rode seven winners on the track and 11 point-to-point winners.

The first winner of his career was on the Williams-trained Firebird Flyer at Ludlow on January 15, 2015. His first winner in Ireland came at Down Royal on May 25 2018 where he won a maiden hurdle on the Henry De Bromhead-trained On In All In.

Conor turned professional in September 2018 and his first ride in the paid ranks was a winner in the shape of the Gordon Elliott-trained Silver Star. With almost 60 wins to his credit in Ireland, Conor is now concentrating on the pre-training end of the business while also riding out for a number of well-known trainers.

Our flat racing jockeys have enjoyed something of a winter holiday, with Brandon Wilkie taking to the sun in Australia and Dylan Browne McMonagle headed off to Dubai for a spell.

Oisin Orr and Luke McAteer took the opportunity to return to the hills of God’s county and spend some rare time with family. With the dawning of the new year the young Thoroughbreds will be starting their training in the yards around the country and the riders will return once again to the daily grind. We can look forward to an exciting season when the days slowly lengthen and the tracks dry out.