Ballinode (horse)

Last updated
Ballinode
SireMachakos
Grandsire Desmond
DamCelia
DamsireVeles
Sex Mare
Foaled1916 [1]
CountryIreland
Colour Chestnut
OwnerChristopher Bentley
TrainerFrank Morgan
Major wins
Grand Sefton Steeplechase (1924)
Cheltenham Gold Cup (1925)

Ballinode (foaled 1916) was an Irish racehorse who won the 1925 Cheltenham Gold Cup. She was the first mare and the first Irish-trained horse to win the race. She was known as "The Sligo Mare." [2]

Cheltenham Gold Cup Steeplechase horse race in Britain

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs, and during its running there are 22 fences to be jumped. The race takes place each year during the Cheltenham Festival in March.

County Sligo County in the Republic of Ireland

County Sligo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 65,535 according to the 2016 census, making it the 3rd most populated county in the province, and 26th in the country. It is noted for Benbulben Mountain, one of Ireland’s most distinctive natural landmarks.

Contents

Background

Ballinode was a chestnut mare bred in Ireland. She was one of the few horses of any consequence sired by Machakos, a son of the Coventry Stakes winner Desmond. Ballinode's dam, Celia, was a half-sister to the Ascot Gold Cup winner Love Wisely. [3] During her racing career she was owned by Christopher Bentley and trained in Ireland by Frank Morgan. [2] The mare was named after a village in County Sligo where Bentley lived. [4]

Coventry Stakes Flat horse race in Britain

The Coventry Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.

Desmond was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was at his peak as a two-year-old in the early summer of 1898 when he won three races in quick succession including the Coventry Stakes and the July Stakes. He never won again and was retired from racing at the end of the following year. He later became a very successful breeding stallion and was the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1913, the year of his death.

Ascot Gold Cup

The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.

Racing career

In her early racing career Ballinode won several races in Ireland, acquiring a reputation for being fast but making occasional jumping errors. In March 1924 she was sent to the Cheltenham Festival for the first time and finished second in the National Hunt Handicap Chase [2] A month later she finished eighth in the Grand National. In the following season she returned to Britain for the autumn meeting at Aintree Racecourse and won the Grand Sefton Steeplechase, beating Ardeen into second place. [5] She won again at Nottingham Racecourse in February 1925. On 11 March 1925 she was one of four horses to contest the second running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup and started the 3/1 second favourite. [6] The other three runners were the odds-on favourite Alcazar, the 1924 runner-up Conjuror and the National Hunt Chase winner Patsey V. Ridden by Ted Leader the Irish mare settled in second place behind Alcazar and the pair soon drew well clear of the other two runners. Ballinode took the lead at the second last and won very easily by five lengths. [2] [7] Eighteen days later the mare started 10/1 second favourite for the Grand National but failed to complete the course. [8]

Cheltenham Festival Horse racing festival

The Cheltenham Festival is a meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The meeting usually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day, and is particularly popular with Irish visitors.

The Festival Trophy is a Grade 3 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham over a distance of about 3 miles and 1 furlong, and during its running there are twenty fences to be jumped. It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The 1924 Grand National was the 83rd renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 28 March 1924.

Assessment and honours

In their book, A Century of Champions, based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Ballinode a "poor" Gold Cup winner. [9] She is remembered in the name of Ballinode Close, a residential street in Cheltenham. [10] [11]

Timeform publishing company in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England founded in 1948

Timeform is a sports data and content provider located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England founded in 1948 to provide information to fans, bettors, and others involved in the horse racing industry. The company was purchased by the sports betting exchange Betfair in December 2006. Since 2 February 2016, it has been owned by Paddy Power Betfair.

Pedigree

Pedigree of Ballinode (IRE), chestnut mare, 1916 [1]
Sire
Machakos (IRE)
1903		 Desmond (GB)
1896		 St Simon Galopin
St Angela
L'Abbesse de Jouarre Trappist
Festa
Canterbury Belle (GB)
1894		 Tristan Hermit
Thrift
Re-EchoReverberation
Mabille
Dam
Celia
1905		Veles (GB)
1898		 Isinglass Isonomy
Dead Lock
Velleda Robert the Devil
Idun
Lovelorn (GB)
1888		PhillamonSolon
Satanella
GoneThe Lizard
Vanish (Family 11-e) [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Ballinode pedigree". Pedigree Online. 2016-03-19. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Harman, Bob (2000). The Ultimate Dream: The History of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN   1-84018-381-0.
  3. 1 2 "Scandal - Family 11-e". Thoroughbred Bloodlines. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
  4. ↑ Richard Forristal (7 March 2015). "All 14 Irish winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup". Irish Independent .
  5. ↑ "The Turf in England". New Zealand Herald. 3 December 1925.
  6. ↑ Abelson, Edward; Tyrrel, John (1993). The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records. Breedon Books Publishing. ISBN   978-1-873626-15-3.
  7. ↑ "1925 Gold Cup". Derby Daily Telegraph. 11 March 1925. Retrieved 15 November 2015.(Subscription required.)
  8. ↑ Green, Reg (1993). The History of the Grand National: A Race Apart. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN   0-340-58515-3.
  9. ↑ Morris, Tony; Randall, John (1999). A Century of Champions. Portway Press. ISBN   9781901570151.
  10. ↑ "Ballinode Close". Cheltenham Borough Council. Archived from the original on 2016-04-02.
  11. ↑ "Cheltenham Areas: History of Swindon Village and Wyman's Brook". cheltenham4u.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2010-02-18.
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