The end of a successful season!
And just like that, the British season is over for another year. It genuinely seems like just a month ago that we were celebrating AJ joining the training licence and showing our new brand to our owners!
We notched up 72 winners and over £1.2 million in prize money which is our most successful season for a decade.
However, none of this could be achieved without the support of some amazing people!
Firstly, our truly wonderful owners. Racing is a game of highs and lows and your constant support means everything to us. We aim to give you a truly wonderful experience as owners, continue to try and improve each year, and are already looking forward to the new season to start!
A huge thank you to our incredible sponsors and friends Martin and Iwona Tedham. We are proud that the team always look exceptionally smart, both at home on the gallops and at the races in the Wasdell branded kit when leading up our horses. We are so grateful for your guidance, friendship, support and generosity to everyone here at Jackdaws Castle both on and off the track.
To all the jockeys who ride for us, thank you all.
And last, but by absolutely no means least, and our amazing team. Without you, none of what we do would be possible. Your love and care for the horses, your appetite to help us succeed and your polite conversations and smiles to our owners and guests never go unnoticed. Thank you so much!
Since we last spoke, we enjoyed a brilliant Aintree with Wellington Arch winning the William Hill Handicap Hurdle for Mike and Mary Gaskell. It was wonderful to see them enjoy a big winner! It’s always a wonderful atmosphere up in Liverpool and this year was no different.
Aintree also marked the last ride for Nick Scholfield as he announced his retirement the very next day. We wish Nick all the best in the future!
It was great to see Anyharminasking get back to winning ways up in Newcastle for Mrs Gay Smith and Mt Fugi Park getting off the mark over fences at Carlisle for our Tanzanite partnership. This was followed up the very next day with Anytrixwilldo winning at Taunton for the Trixothetrade Partnership, making it two wins in two days for Gavin Squire who is involved in both partnerships!
It was pleasing to see Wilful return to form with a victory in the opening race of the Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr, and lovely to get a win on Scottish soil for Fitri and Jim Hay.
The last day of the season at Sandown is always a brilliant celebration of the season. Sadly we didn’t get a winner but both Monbeg Genius and Collectors Item ran a blinder in the bet365 Gold Cup.
Huge congratulations to Sean Bowen for being crowned Champion Jockey. It was nice to contribute one winner out of the 180 you rode with a lovely listed victory at Wetherby in November. Every little helps! To Freddie Gingell who was crowned Champion Conditional Jockey after a superb season. And finally, to JP McManus who was once again the Champion Owner. Again, it’s great to contribute in some way to this accolade!
Although British racing stops for a week, racing in Ireland is preparing for the Punchestown Festival starting tomorrow. We are excited to have some runners over there and take on the Irish trainers in their own back yard. You can read about all of the runners below.
While we are over there, we will be heading to the Goffs Punchestown Sale on Thursday 1st May. This sale takes place in the parade ring after racing. As always, if you would like to get involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to find out more at joe@oneill.racing.
We wish you all a lovely week in the sunshine!
Best wishes and take care,
Jonjo & AJ
View this post on Instagram
Recent Winners
Our Punchestown Runners
Tuesday
Tomorrow we have two lovely full brothers both homebred’ s by Mrs Peter Bond, out of Fiddledeedee who herself was a multiple winner running in this race hoping to race on the wonderful course that is Punchestown.
15:05; The Albert Bartlett Triple Crown Series Final, 2 miles, 4 furlongs – Stay If U Want To – Goes here off the back off a really promising season over hurdles, with two wins and three 2nds to his name. He won The Triple Crown series qualifier in Kelso in a very pleasing fashion in February and has been given a short time to freshen up ahead of this race which is a great new initiative by Punchestown.
15:05; The Albert Bartlett Triple Crown Series Final, 2 miles, 4 furlongs – Soldierofthestorm – The older of the two brother’s is currently 1st reserve, has put in some pleasing performances this season including his 4th place Wetherby in The Triple Crown qualifier. We very much hope he gets his chance to run.
15:40; The Kilashee Hotel Handicap Hurdle (Listed), 2 miles, 1 yards – Wilful – Goes to Punchestown off the back off a very impressive performance at Ayr during the Scottish National meeting. This is a very competitive race but he has always been a progressive type and we look forward to him stepping up into listed company.
Thursday
14:30; The Specialist Group Handicap Hurdle, 2 miles, 40 yds – Boston Boy – Has flourished since stepping back to a 2 mile trip with a pleasing victory at Fontwell last month. We stick to this winning formula hoping he can yield another strong run. Currently he needs plenty to come out and we hope for the Tanzanite partnership he gets a chance to race and puts his best foot forward.
15:40; The Frontline Security Listed Chase, 2 miles – Petit Tonnerre – He put his best foot forward when winning at Doncaster in late January, he was unlucky to be brought down next time out, We are looking to him running here where he should have a live chance.
16:50; The Conway Piling Listed Handicap Hurdle, 2 miles, 7 furlongs – Bill Joyce – Very unlucky to fall at Aintree, thankfully unscathed and since then schooling well at home. A winner of a Grade 2 earlier in the season at Sandown, we very much hope we can get back into the winner’s enclosure for owners Danny, Heather & family.
Saturday
15:05; The Oaklodgelandscapes.ie Handicap Chase, 3 miles, 7 furlongs – Hasthing – Had a really positive start to the season with back to back wins at Windsor, before a strong finishing fourth in the Swinley Chase. He has since been a bit unlucky on the track at Cheltenham & Ayr but is schooling well at home and we hope with a clear round this time he finishes the season on a high.
16:15; The Palmerstown House Pat Taaffe Listed Handicap Chase, 3 miles – Beachcomber – has put in some really pleasing performance this season, most notably with his success at Kempton, giving his owner Mrs EJ Wills a career high win in the Ladbrokes Chase, with an exuberant round of jumping winning by 10 lengths. He comes here fresh and fingers crossed he can go close here.
17:25; The Lawlor’s Of Naas Listed Handicap Hurdle – 3 miles, 30 yards – Wellington Arch – Wellington Arch (and his owners Mike & Mary Gaskell) has been a great ambassadors for us this season with three 2nds and three wins from his 6 runs, with the icing on the cake being his win at Aintree in the William Premier Handicap Hurdle. He has come out Aintree well and we look forward to seeing him perform at Punchestown.
Easter at Jackdaws Castle
Easter is always a happy time at Jackdaws Castle when the whole team receive their eggs (Gabby more than most!) as a thank you for all of their hard work.
Although a long bank holiday for most people, racing continued as normal all weekend, so the chocolate gave much needed energy to the staff working away at home and those taking horses to the races.
We hope everyone reading this had a lovely Easter weekend!
Employee of the Season
For the first time ever, we have introduced an Employee of the Season award for the team member who goes above and beyond all year around.
This has been awarded to Madalin Radu, known to everyone as Doc.
Doc’s job is varied and busy, he is the most in demand person at Jackdaws Castle. On an average day Doc, will start all the machines in the winter, likely harrow the gallops on the frosty morning and sometimes twice if it’s a very cold night so it’s ready for the horses in the morning. He then hoovers and cleans the pool before heading back out to tend to the gallops again after next lot. This will continue all morning between other ad hoc duties like checking any electrical or plumbing issues.
In the afternoons he will take the muck in a tractor and trailer to the farmer. These are the main jobs through the Winter.
In the Summer there is 500 acres of mostly grass to graze or mow which can take a long time and both he and Jonjo come up with new concepts/adjustments for housing the horses outside which is an ongoing project for Doc to manage alongside the help of the rest of the maintenance team.
Goffs Punchestown Sale
The Goffs Punchestown Sale is boutique sale of pointers held after racing on Thursday 1st May in the Parade Ring at the Punchestown Festival
Graduates of the sale include…
You can view the lots of the sale HERE.
If you are keen to get involved with O’Neill Racing and considering purchasing a horse, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at joe@oneill.racing
Stable Tours at Jackdaws Castle
Our VIP Stable Tours are incredibly popular and make the most wonderful gift for a horse racing enthusiast.
It’s a wonderful opportunity for fans of our great sport to go behind the scenes at one of the most famous training establishments in the UK.
Your day will start at the stunning Lygon Arms in Broadway at 7:15 am, before heading to Jackdaws Castle to watch the horses on the gallops and in the swimming pool, and soaking up the breathtaking scenery of this magical location.
Depending on the day of your visit, you may have the chance to see our top jockeys schooling the horses or observe our resident farriers at work as they prepare the horses.
Your tour culminates with a visit to our Owners’ Suite where you may have the opportunity to meet Jonjo and AJ for a photo opportunity and a chat.
For all the information and how to book, please visit oneill.racing/about-us/stable-tours.
Upcoming Birthdays & Work Anniversaries
Happy birthday to…
Eliza House
May 10th
Jay Boulden
May 25th
Social Media
We are very active on all of our social media platforms,
please give us a follow using the links below.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
If you would like to receive our newsletters, please subscribe using the form below.
If you would like to get in touch and find out more about getting involved in racehorse ownership please call us on 01386 584 209 or email joe@oneill.racing.
If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter, please click here.