When Make Noise crossed the winning line to land the RPGTV English Puppy Derby Final at Towcester last weekend, it marked a decent end to a mixed year for Seamus Cahill.
It was a fine run by the Jan 20 son of Confident Rankin who was bought for a five figure sum following heats and final win in an N2 puppy stake at Cork by Alex Hambi.
Seamus said: “I was told about the dog after the heats but thought we would wait until after the final. He will be off a while now and if all goes to plan will come back for the Derby.”
If Seamus sounds slightly cautious, who could blame him. This time last year he had watched his home bred Surprising land the same event is stunning style, unbeaten throughout the event and clocking 29.76, 29.62 and 29.35 in the final.
The June 19 whelp was widely rated as a ‘serious Derby dog’. Since then he has only raced 11 times, winning twice. He has repeatedly come off sore and hasn’t set foot on a track since October.
Seamus said: “It has been three or four different things starting with a wrist, then he pulled some stomach muscles. He has seen vets in England and Ireland but we’ve never been able to get him right. He has been galloping well in the past few weeks and we are hoping to trial him back. We are still hopeful that he might come back, he still acts like a pup.”
The great irony of course is that Surprising’s sister Pocket Lola could not have fared more differently. A winner of the £5,000 British Bred Final on Derby Final night, she has since won the Produce Stakes, reached a semi final of the Oaks and was narrowly turned over in the Brighton Belle. She has actually won 18 races during the year, including 12 opens. What would she have cost had she been for sale as a youngster?
Seamus said: “It is difficult to say really because we brought her on slowly (in graded races). I’d guess £12-14,000. I was offered a bitch the other day who had won one race and they were looking for £12K for her.”
In fact, the litter would have been worth very significant money. Sister Pocket Lulu is of very similar ability – a 29.02 (calc) at Hove and third in the Brighton Belle. She will soon make her debut over 575m at Romford. In fact 11 members of the litter have contested races at Hove, several in A1 company. How would you value them?
Seamus said: “It’s very difficult, dogs are a ridiculous price at the moment and probably four out of every five aren’t worth the money that is paid for them.”
But there are more to come where they came from. Banabane’s next litter of eight dogs and six bitches by Good News have been sent to Ireland for rearing and are due back in Britain later in the summer.
It is 11 years since Seamus won his only Trainers Championship and although he isn’t expecting to seriously challenge in 2022, he is hoping for a stronger show than this year. He is currently ninth, just a point behind Ricky Holloway.
Seamus said: “I like to go open racing but only when I have the ammunition. Where is the fun in getting in the van when you only have 20-1 chances? I think we could have a slightly better team for next year.”
Like most of his peers, Seamus was delighted at the recent ARC/Entain announcement of increased prize money for the Premier Category One events. He feels prize money will further enhancements to keep owners in the sport.
He said: “Ours at Hove has been at a decent level for a while now. I think the increase to a minimum of £1,000 to all Category One finalists is long overdue.
“There are two other things that I would consider important. I want to see the big competitions return to 48-runner events and I want to see big finals staged at the weekend, mainly Fridays and Saturdays. There is no problem with the occasional Sundays, but I am not a big fan of major finals in the afternoon.”
RPGTV Puppy Derby winner MAKE NOISE with trainer Seamus Cahill and connections Photo © Steve Nash
