Ballinode (horse)

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Ballinode
SireMachakos
Grandsire
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]

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]

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]

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]

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-Echo Reverberation
Mabille
Dam
Celia
1905 		Veles (GB)
1898 		Isinglass Isonomy
Dead Lock
Velleda Robert the Devil
Idun
Lovelorn (GB)
1888 		Phillamon Solon
Satanella
Gone The Lizard
Vanish (Family 11-e)[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Ballinode pedigree". Pedigree Online. 19 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-84018-381-0
    .
  3. ^ a b "Scandal - Family 11-e". Thoroughbred Bloodlines. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  4. ^ Richard Forristal (7 March 2015). "All 14 Irish winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup". Irish Independent.
  5. New Zealand Herald
    . 3 December 1925.
  6. ISBN 978-1-873626-15-3
    .
  7. ^ "1925 Gold Cup". Derby Daily Telegraph. 11 March 1925. Retrieved 15 November 2015.(Subscription required.)
  8. ISBN 0-340-58515-3
    .
  9. ISBN 9781901570151
    .
  10. ^ "Ballinode Close". Cheltenham Borough Council. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016.
  11. ^ "Cheltenham Areas: History of Swindon Village and Wyman's Brook". cheltenham4u.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010.
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