Double at Dundalk as record is maintained

I came back from Doncaster sales last Thursday after a busy few days checking out some of next year"s talent and I"m glad to say I have added four new yearlings to the Glenburnie string. The transfer deadline is a long way away for us and I would hope and expect to add to that number over the coming months. I probably expected a down turn in trade due to the current climate, but witnessed the opposite as once a nice horse came into the ring there were plenty of potential buyers bidding. I did not run that many while away, but my stable apprentice Emmet McNamara had a week he will remember for the rest of his life. He rode his 20th winner at Down Royal on Friday which reduced his seven-pound claim to five. The claim enabled him to take seven pounds off any horse he rode, but he now is down to five pounds and will be allowed claim that amount off his mounts until he has ridden 30 more winners or 50 in total. As if that wasn"t a good enough week for him, he then went to the Curragh on Sunday and proceeded to claim one of the season"s most prestigious races when he won the €120,000 Irish Cambridgeshire aboard the Patrick Prendergast-trained Tis Mighty. Emmet gave this filly a very cool ride and it was the perfect way to start off as a five-pound claimer. Emmet deserves all his success as he is a very dedicated 18-year-old who works very hard to keep his weight down, as he is quite tall. He lives in nearby Kilmessan with Keagan Latham, our stable jockey. They are both enjoying a good season and they are two great lads to have around the place. Keagan enjoyed his own bit of luck at Dundalk on Saturday when he rode a double for the yard aboard Turk and Young Jemmy. Both horses won by the minimum and I thought Keagan was very good on both of them. For a lad who is just new to these shores, I think he has settled in well and has adapted to our racing easily enough and has made a good impression on anyone who has met him. The main event of the week was the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday and this went to the David Wachman-trained favourite, Again, which was ridden by the Ballydoyle super-sub Seamie Heffernan. You have to feel some sympathy for both Johnny Murtagh and Wayne Lordan who missed out on riding this winner due to suspensions which they incurred at Dundalk recently. This ended a great week for David Wachman who also won a Group 1 in France last Sunday with Bushranger. He told me at the start of the season that he had a good batch of two-year-olds and I guess he wasn"t joking! I"m delighted for David as he works as hard as anyone at the job and as he is a son-in-law of John Magnier, he will be sent some classy sorts and he puts himself under a lot of pressure to succeed. That success is well earned. I chose not to run anything at the Curragh as I felt the ground would have been too testing and I"m hoping that the weather is on up this week as we have some good racing to look forward to at Leopardstown next Saturday. I know the forecast is not great, but at the moment the ground is good, so fingers crossed, as Saturday is Champion Stakes day at the Foxrock venue. This will see the great Duke of Marmalade and New Approach go head-to-head again and it should be a great race. After the forfeit stage, there are 11 left in and the powerful Aidan O"Brien trains five of them. Interestingly enough, he has left in Henrythenavigator at this stage and one might wonder will he turn up instead of the Duke? The back up card includes another Group 1 in the Matron Stakes, a race for fillies only that has an entry of 16 that includes the long-awaited return of the Ballydoyle filly Listen. If she runs, she could face such fillies as Lush Lashes and Halfway To Heaven. That would surely amount to a mouthwatering race and worth the entry fee alone. With a group three and a couple of €100,000 handicaps also on the card this is a day that should not be missed and I hope you can make it if you can. Dundalk will wrap up proceedings on Sunday and I would hope to have my usual array of runners in the hope of finding a winner! We have hit the 33-winner mark at the moment and with a good bit of the season left to go I would hope that there are a few more winners left in the tank. I know I have said this before, but in this game you are only as good as your last winner whether you are a trainer or a jockey, so you can"t rest on your laurels, you have to keep kicking! Dundalk seem to promote a lot of debate in the industry whether it"s the lack of use of the track or the fact that we should have another polytrack built as soon as possible. In answering the questions regarding the lack of use of the track you have to take into consideration that the days available during our summer season are few and far between and its not as simple as just opening up and putting on a card. Other tracks do not want to lose their specific days. Yes, when we lose a lot of meetings due to bad weather, we should be able to arrange quick substitute meetings just like they did last Saturday, as that is one of the selling points of an all-weather track - you can race at the drop of a hat! The facility at Dundalk allows us to race later into the season, as we will this year when the last meeting will take place on Friday, 5th December. I"m told that we will not be racing any earlier than 20th March next year. I find that incredible as the track will be lying dormant through January and February when it could be serving its purpose - racing. That would keep a lot of us busy and could help siphon through some of the lower grade horses that are in abundance in the country. I don"t think the track should be totally closed for that long during the winter, but I accept it is a case of economics more than anything. I personally thought that we would see a second track being built sooner rather than later, but I have heard the argument against that because we don"t use the one we have! My reason for a second one would be to service the southern end of the country because I know it is a long haul up to Dundalk for a lot of lads, but I agree that we should maximise the one we have first. I know I seem to keep saying this of late, but here"s hoping that the weather picks up this week and we all enjoy a fantastic Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes day on Saturday. Fingers Crossed! Visit the Ger Lyons website: www.gerlyons.ie