Halfback rewards owner"s perseverance

There was plenty of local success at Navan on Saturday where former Meath footballer and selector, Pat Reynolds, was rewarded for his perserverance with the appropriately-named Halfback which is trained locally. Halfback, which won the Garlow Cross Handicap Hurdle at Navan on Saturday under Philip Carberry, is the appropriate name for a horse that was bred by Meath"s 1967 All-Ireland-winning defender, the legendary Pat Reynolds. And the eight-year-old gelding which is trained at Ratholdron outside Navan has had to show plenty of guts and determination after two lengthy periods on the sidelines with injuries. Trained by Finbarr Hand, Halfback showed some very promising form back in 2005 and 2006 before a year off the track until July 2007. Following his return to action there was another 12-month spell off the track. 'This fellow is very quirky, he has had loads of problems, he has broken down twice and cracked a pelvis,' commented the trainer. 'He had been running over two miles and the step-up in trip to two and a half miles helped as he is from a good staying chasing family,' he added. The owner missed the success as he was on vacation in Portugal. The Clady Syndicate and Dunderry trainer Michael Fitzsimons were also celebrating on Saturday when the Athboy Hurdle resulted in a second victory for Brave Betsy. The six-year-old won at Navan 12 months ago and scored again after she benefited from the fall of the Noel Meade-trained Charlie Yardbird at the third last flight. Brave Betsy was left in a clear lead at that stage and held the favourite Faltering Fullback for a two and a half lengths victory. Paul Carberry, rider of Charlie Yardbird, was stood down for the day after injuring his knee and missed the winning ride on Island Life at Leopardstown on Sunday. Drumree rider Ross Geraghty, who was also celebrating his birthday at the weekend, deputised on the Meade-trained gelding which was heading for the sales ring last month. 'We had intended sending him to the sales in England as the owners were fed up with him, but then I persuaded them to give him one more chance and he won,' stated Meade.'Ross Geraghty has been a lucky jockey for me, he won the Irish Grand National on The Bunny Boiler, a horse that there wasn"t exactly a queue for. 'He gave Island Life a great ride and was very strong on him all the way to the line, it was probably the fact that Barry was on the runner-up that gave him an extra incentive,' he added.