Ballinrobe Racecourse set for McHale Race Day

BALLINROBE Racecourse will host the biggest day of their year on Sunday thanks to the backing of locally-based McHale Engineering.

McHale Race Day will feature the €40,000 McHale Mayo National Handicap Chase, the first graded race to be run at the south Mayo venue. The McHale Mayo Irish EBF Mares Handicap Hurdle has an overall value of €30,000 and will be the main supporting race, with the McHale Tiger Roll Beginners Chase set to close a fine day’s racing. The race is renamed to honour the dual Aintree Grand National hero and four-time Cheltenham Festival winner which recorded his first win over fences at Ballinrobe in May 2016.

Tiger Roll’s trainer, Gordon Elliott, has entered 12 horses across six of the seven races at Ballinrobe on Sunday, with half of them in the McHale Mayo National Handicap Chase itself. His potential runners include recent winner Young Turk and the exciting novice Aforementioned, both owned by Gigginstown House Stud, and the JP McManus-owned Timiyan.

In all, 28 horses have been entered for the McHale Mayo National Handicap Chase including the hat-trick seeking Mindsmadeup, successful over hurdles at Kilbeggan before taking the Guinness Galway Blazers Handicap Chase at the Galway festival for trainer Matthew Smith. John McConnell’s Go Another One is another bidding for three wins in a row while the Michael McDonagh-trained Crazywork De Vassy was a 20-length winner at Killarney and Charles Byrnes’ Doctor Duffy won by nine lengths at Kilbeggan last time.

John Flannelly, Ballinrobe’s Racecourse manager, said: “This is the seventh season that McHale are sponsors of our feature raceday. McHale are the ideal race sponsors for us - they are our neighbours and we take great pride that they are a company trading worldwide from Ballinrobe.

“We could not be happier with the entries for Sunday. Both feature races look hugely competitive and they will take plenty of winning.

“Sunday’s McHale Mayo National Handicap Chase is our first graded race and we are delighted with that. We had a great winner in Peregrine Run last year. The McHale Mayo Irish EBF Mares Handicap Hurdle is a strong race and another that has proven very successful for us is the McHale Tiger Roll Beginners Chase, renamed after Tiger Roll, a winner here in 2016. It was won by Wicklow Brave last year, arguably one of the best horses ever to run at Ballinrobe.

“Unfortunately we will see no crowds gather at Ballinrobe this weekend but we are still looking forward to seven great races.”

Eoin Clarke, marketing executive at McHale, said: “We are teamed up with our neighbours and friends at Ballinrobe Racecourse again for this year. McHale are delighted to sponsor our local racecourse particularly during these difficult times. Our relationship with the racecourse has developed greatly over the years, as has the annual McHale Race Day, and we look forward to another exciting day’s racing on Sunday.”