Lovely Citizen and William O’Sullivan won on the opening day of the 1991 season at Lisgoold where there was an eight race card.
Oldcastle held their fixture for the Ballymacad’s earlier than usual with the multiple winner Ah Whist being beaten in the Open under Enda Bolger by a John Berry ridden Scottish Ruler giving the Eastern Champion a treble on the card.
At Patrickswell Tom Costello secured a treble while the last two races went to Adrian Maguire. Costello won the five-year-old maiden on Life Of A Lord who went on to win the 1995 Galway Plate under Charlie Swan.
There was a very tight finish to the final race at Thurles for the Golden Vale meeting but Aidan O’Brien managed to get Spa Hill to lead on the line to beat the Enda Bolger partnered Local Customer.
Disqualification
At Ballon Gaving Wragg secured a double on Cheeky Devil and Moi. The opening race at Caherlistrane for the North Galway’s went to Grey Sade under Liam Keogh.
It later transpired that Keogh was not qualified to ride in the race and was disqualified with Sunshine N Light being awarded the victory under W Liston. In the second race Paddy Graffin passed the post in front on Dereen Star but was demoted to second having crossed the runner-up so Roslavan Lad and Fachtna Twomey were presented with the race.
Void Race
A member’s race at Ballyraggett attracted only two runners. Having already ridden a double, Pat Kelly failed to complete on Amacart so Tipp Magic was left alone for the final mile and won but rider D Williams was found to have carried 12st and not the correct 12st 7lbs so was later disqualified and the race was declared void.
John Durkan took the opener at Sandyford with Carmel Connaughton winning the open on Colonel Lemon by eight lengths.
Conna Rambler was very impressive at Conna under John Lombard in the Open while Bucks Maid and Doorway completed a treble for the rider.
Cheltenham Foxhunter Winner
On March 14th Lovely Citizen provided the O’Sullivan family with a tremendous success in the Cheltenham Foxhunters. From nine starts during the 1991 season he was never out of the first two including seven wins.
At Naas Andrew Coonan, Greg Harford and James Lambe were among the winners. Shay Slevin took the Open on Barbarico at Caim while Pat Kelly (3) and John Berry (2) took the rest of the winners.
An Innishannon there was a double for Niall Kelleher who rode 20 winners until his retirement from the saddle in 2013. Aiden Kennedy took the Kilmallock opener on Charlythephilander and the other five races were shared by Adrian Maguire (3) and Enda Bolger (2).
At Summerhill Tony Martin won the maiden on Ushers Island who went on to win a National Hunt Chase and a Whitbred Gold Cup.
An interesting comment in winning at Roscommon Racecourse for the Longford fixture maiden winner Jimmy O’Dea under Tony Martin read, ‘looked in hopeless position and about to be pulled up 10th, began to run on, rapidly picked off field to go 2nd 3out, led appr next and drew clear, easily’
An Adrian Maguire Nenagh treble was completed by Deep Bramble in the gelding’s maiden who went on to win nine times under rules and was a top class chaser.
1991 was the first time that the Novice award was an under 21 event and Maguire in taking it is still the only rider under 21 to take the novice and the overall since Tom Costello.
It was a terrific battle for the title all year with John Berry. Berry had ridden a six timer in the past but the flow of late season winners that Maguire produced forced Berry to give best.
Six-timer
On the 19th May 1991 at Dromahane rode six winners in the afternoon and the only shame was that he had no ride in the mares’ maiden as he may well have gone through the card.
It didn’t finish at Dromahane however and as hard as Berry tried to live with this rush of winners when Maguire won the first four races at Kinsale that he was eligible to ride in that was simply too much and indeed the winning margin that evening which was only four.
Carmel Conaughton won the ladies title for the sixth time showing her continued domination in the section. The Connaught title went three ways with Costello brothers Dermot and Tony sharing it with John Berry.
AWARDS VENUE: Minella Hotel, Clonmel
CHAMPION RIDER: A.Maguire 38 winners (Record)
CHAMPION LADY: Carmel Connaughton
CHAMPION NOVICE(Under 21): A.Maguire
ULSTER CHAMPION: I.Buchanan
MUNSTER CHAMPION: A.Maguire
LEINSTER CHAMPION: J.A.Berry
CONNAUGHT CHAMPION: D.P.Costello
A.G.Costello
J.A.Berry
HORSE OF THE YEAR: No award until 1993
CHAMPION SENIOR(OVER 33): I.Buchanan
PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR: Valentine Lamb
LEADING SIRE Strong Gale, The Parson
RIDERS TABLE
38 A.Maguire
34 J.A.Berry
28 E.Bolger
23 P.J.Healy
22 P.M.Kelly
18 T.S.Costello
15 J.Lombard
13 A.J.Martin
12 D.P.Costello
11 P.F.Graffin
10 I.Buchanan, M.Kelleher, D.G.Murphy
9 P.Fenton, J.A.Flynn, M.Phillips
8 W.M.O’Sullivan
7 J.J.Lambe, R.J.Patton,
6 R.Arthur, M.F.Barrett, R.Hurley, C.A.McBratney
5 J.P.Berry, Carmel Connaughton, A.Daly, L.Lennon, D.M.O’Brien, J.O’Callaghan
4 J.Bright, P.J.Doyle, T.Doyle, D.E.Finn, G.Fitzgerald, F.J.Flood, P.Larkin, T.Lombard, M.McNulty
3 J.Baragry, A.R.Coonan, A.G.Costello, J.P.Dempsey, N.C.Kelleher, J.Larkin, A.Lee.G.Mulcaire, S.Mulcaire, D.P.Murphy, A.P.O’Brien, J.P.O’Brien, S.Smyth, F.Twomey, D.Vaentine
2 J.P.Brennan, W.J.Burke, M.Casey, Lillian Doyle, W.Ewing, L.J.Gracey, G.J.Harford, P.G.Kelly, A.J.Kennedy, L.Keogh, J.Leahy, B.Morgan, C.O’Brien, T.O’Callaghan, J.O’Shaughnessy J.A.Quinn, Rosemary Stewart, G.Wragg
P.Aherne, C.Andrews, R.Beresford, D.M.Christie, Sarah Colleen, B.Conerney, T.J.Corcoran, G.Cromwell, P.Crowley, P.P.Curran, D.Deacon, P.F.Doocey, D.Dunne, M.Dunne, P.A.Dunphy, J.P.Durkan, J.English, A.D.Evans, Gaye Ferris, A.Fitzgerald, K.P.Gaule, Jayne Gayfer, J.F.Gleeson, Linda Gough, Diana Grissell, F.Hand, J.A.Harte, M.Hastings, A.Hickey, M.Hickey, M.P.Hourigan, Eileen Hyndman, R.Kehoe, Tracey Kerr, J.P.Molony, J.J.Murphy, M.A.Murphy, T.J.Nagle, J.A.Nash, R.Neylon, M.O’Connor, K.F.O’Donnell, W.T.O’Donnell, M.J.O’Keeffe, R.P.O’Keeffe, M.N.Reardan, P.T.Rothwell, M.Sheppard, S.Slevin, C.Stafford, M.Troy, G.Webb, R.Wilson, A.Younghusband.
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