Saturday round-up: A look at the racing action around the country

It is normally a quieter time heading up to Christmas for the horse racing. Ascot served up the biggest race of the weekend with Ciaron Maher raiding with success. There was a hugely popular winner of the Ballarat Cup, a meeting that produced a couple of great stories.

Northerly success for Light Infantry Man at Ascot

It has to go down as an excellent ride from Ethan Brown to land the Northerly. Always close to the speed from a wide barrier, Brown went at the perfect time to slip the field and lift the feature race of the weekend.

It has been a good spell for the 25-year-old. He rode winner number 500 for his career at Cranbourne on Globe in November, adding Group 1 success number five on Saturday afternoon at Ascot.

Maher has had plenty of Group 1 winners in his training career but this one will be sweet. Light Infantry Man has not got close to the level of the European form he showed for David Simcock back in 2022 and 2023. Now he has, it will be interesting to see if the horse can kick on.

Berkeley Square a popular Ballarat Cup winner

Ballarat trainer Dan O’Sullivan lifted the cup with Berkeley Square. The racer is known as one of the toughest 2000m performers in the country and he once more showed his typical great attitude. He used his huge stride to run them down late down the outside under a perfectly timed challenge.

His consistency is a huge asset to any stable. 16 of his 26 career starts have seen him finish in the first three past the post. He is on a run of seven straight races where he has finished in the first three. That goes back to the middle of September, he’s been kept busy this prep but clearly, he is thriving on a heavy workload.

The winner was also a milestone one for 23-year-old Jaylah Kennedy. She has shown herself to be an excellent young hoop and this was the 100th time that she has saluted. The Ballarat Cup is a great race for her to get that first century on the board.

Dylan Browne-McMonagle is in the winners again

One of the stars of last summer when over for a stint, the Irishman again is showing just how good he is. He made it a perfect 3/3 on Dublin Journal for the Hayes brothers at Ballarat at a massive $31.90.

It was a roughie double for McMonagle as he had saluted on Place Of Gold at odds of $16.50 earlier on the card for Cliff Brown. McMonagle has had five rides for Brown, winning on two and finishing second on another.

That is an interesting partnership to keep an eye on for the future.

James McDonald wins second world’s best jockey award

Ahead of the International Group 1’s on Sunday in Hong Kong, James McDonald was awarded with the world’s best jockey. That is nothing that those who watch racing on a daily basis won’t already be aware of!

It is the second time in three years that McDonald has won the award. He picked up a winner in the International Jockeys’ Challenge earlier in the week and will be looking to guide Romantic Warrior to another Group 1 victory when they combine on Sunday.

While there have been classier days of racing on recent Saturdays, this weekend saw some top action and a number of great stories. The emergence of young jockeys such as Jaylah Kennedy and Dylan Browne-McMonagle is great for the sport as a whole.