Peggy colls the shotsagain
You can forget about the A.P. McCoys of this world, the J.P. McManuses of horse racing and other such legends.
To win The Castle Inn Cheltenham’s Naps Competition is a fair achievement by any standards. To retain the title is unique and Peggy Coll from Station Road, Castlebar, was in red-hot form last week when it came to finding winners.
Like so many of the horses she backed, she romped home to take first prize. But not only did Peggy bag the top prize of €500 for having the most winners, she also took the daily prize on two days, which puts our Peggy up there with the legends.
As the four-day event entered the straight on day four there was a packing field behind Breaffy’s Marie Jennings, who also had a great meeting, to take second spot. But all changed utterly coming into the final race on the final day as Peggy pulled the winner, Next Sensation, out of the bag to jump ahead and win on 168 points ahead of Marie, who finished on 155.
There was a controversy involving those in line for the minor honours, with Ken Greally demanding a stewards’ enquiry when an upstart by the name of Willie Walsh (no relation to the tycoon who runs British Airways, but a man equally as wealthy) leap-frogged Ken and a certain Melvine to take third place. The Melvine just about snuck into some place money, finishing fourth, Ken just one point adrift and just out of the money.
Not to worry Ken, Willie has agreed to set aside a certain sum of his winnings to be left for us in the Castle, a slush fund so to speak - and if you believe that then you must also still believe that Santa will be coming to you again this Christmas!
Anyway, a good few days were had enjoying the Cheltenham festival and already Peggy is being installed as favourite to do the hat trick next year. I wouldn’t back against her.
Meanwhile, another man who knows his horses is Frank McHale, who scooped top prize in Mick Byrne’s naps competition. This was a photo-finish, with Mitchels footballing ace Aiden Walsh leading the pack all week but Frank took the last fence with a great leap, Aiden stumbling, and it was the Stack’s boss who finished on 129 points, one point ahead of Aiden.
Ronnie Lawlor is seldom out of the frame and he had consistent week, taking third spot on 121 points, with Ger Whyte also getting it the money in fourth with 118 points.
Frank also finished joint-first in his own naps competition in Stack’s Bar and he has committed his winnings to the Injured Jockeys’ Fund - a noble gesture indeed from Frank. He shared first place with Greg Flynn from Ballyheane. Ann Flynn and Jackie Lally also tied for second spot, with Fintan McHale third and Dwayne ‘double tops’ Flynn coming in fourth.
On Spencer Street, Councillor Al McDonnell swept the boards in Tolster’s with a whopping 166 points, proving once again that Fianna Fáil may be out of power but they have plenty of horse power behind them.
Al was off to a flyer and was halfway around course when Dave McHale remounted to take second spot on 139 points. Castlebar Hurling Club got a look in to take third, with Paul Guthrie filing in fourth.
Gerry Tolster was also among the winners but not in his own pub. Gerry picked up the prize for the longest-odds winner in The Castle Inn where he managed to find a 25/1 shot.
Thankfully, most of us came away with the shirt still on our back.
Finally, Paul Murphy from Paddy Powers gets our nap of the week award. He did tell us a week before the off that David Pipe’s Moon Dancer would not be beaten and he duly obliged, finishing at 9/2 having opened at 7/1.