Ballinode (horse)

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]

Ballinode
Sire	Machakos
Grandsire	Desmond
Dam	Celia
Damsire	Veles
Sex	Mare
Foaled	1916[1]
Country	Ireland
Colour	Chestnut
Owner	Christopher Bentley
Trainer	Frank Morgan
Major wins
Grand Sefton Steeplechase (1924) Cheltenham Gold Cup (1925)

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. "Ballinode pedigree". Pedigree Online. 2016-03-19. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
2. Harman, Bob (2000). The Ultimate Dream: The History of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-84018-381-0.
3. "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.