Image © Healy Racing
Barry O’Neill was crowned champion in the northern region for the sixth time, after he held off a determined challenge from the reigning champion Noel McParlan at the two-day Necarne fixture in Fermanagh.
Barry O’Neill was crowned champion in the northern region for the sixth time, after he held off a determined challenge from the reigning champion Noel McParlan at the two-day Necarne fixture in Fermanagh.
O’Neill entered the two-day fixture at the Fermanagh venue with a one-winner advantage, but crucially his chief title rival, Noel McParlan was forced to sit out Friday’s card due to a suspension.
That proved costly, as O’Neill was immediately on the scoreboard, landing the Friday opener, the four-year-old mares’ maiden aboard Pigeon Forge, to extend his advantage to two winners.
There was further insult for the defending champion McParlan, as two horses that he would have been aboard, the Ger Quinn-trained pair of Monsieur Jaco and Mistyburn, claimed both divisions of the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.
Had McParlan been able to take those rides, it would have left the pair all square heading into Saturday’s deciding card, and the gap was extended up to three winners when O’Neill again combined with Colin Bowe to take division two of the four-year-old auction maiden aboard Shotgun Rider.
However, McParlan immediately fought back by winning the next two races. The newcomer Four Springs turned the four-year-old geldings’ maiden into a procession, as he proved to be 22 lengths too good for his seven rivals.
Ger Quinn was again the man to deliver the good for the four-timer northern champion, as Braidside Boy put in a determined effort to get the better of the talented mare Hathaways Cottage in a strongly run match race for the adjacent winners’ contest.
That reduced the gap between the pair back down to a solitary winner heading into the open race, and ultimately it proved to be decisive.
McParlan’s mount, Ballyphilip, who had proven to be a thorn in the side of O’Neill’s Winged Leader at Loughbrickland, was unable to reproduce that effort as he was pulled-up before the fourth-last fence, as Winged Leader galloped to his record-equalling 33rd victory.
The three-length success was enough to secure that sixth title in the region for O’Neill, as although McParlan added the six-year-old geldings’ maiden to bring his tally for the day to a treble, it left him one-winner short by the end of the day’s action.
O’Neill’s Northern titles
2018 – 16 wins
2020 – 14 wins
2021 – 13 wins
2022 – 17 wins
2023 – 25 wins
2023 – 25 wins
2025 – 20 wins
