Tamazu's 100-1 triumph helping Fergal Birrane to beat the odds

With a combined purchase price of £2,500, a pair of buys by Fergal Birrane at Part 2 of 2020's Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale had the odds against them to ever amount to much on the racecourse.

However, in February Dubirango provided a welcome winner for his County Mayo stable at Dundalk and continued to pay his way through the winter on the all-weather and at Tipperary on Friday night, it was the turn of his stablemate Tamazu to strike at the princely price of 100-1.

It was the fourth career start for the Tamayuz colt but his first since mid-November as apprentice Jack Kearney ploughed his own furrow down the centre of the track and held on in a tight finish for the five-furlong open maiden.

"It's great to get a maiden first time out and it was a bit of a surprise I suppose, but we were expecting him to run fairly well from his work at home," Birrane explains.

"He was fifth at Naas first time and I ran him in the winter but he has a big strong frame and it was a case of getting a bit of muscle on him and giving him a break. He’s come into himself anyway.

"He hadn’t had many schools on grass, he ran fresh and absolutely loved the good ground. He has a huge step, he’d actually make a show horse and he daisycuts the way he walks. When the jockey gave him a little tip behind he stretched out even more, really extending."

Birrane was not able to be at that particular sale, which provided the quiet conclusion to a generally more robust event rescheduled at Newmarket, so snap decisions were required before Patrick Keane from Ballinroe Transport took the two of them from the Castlebridge Consignment and brought them home.

"It was one of the first online sales, I don’t think there were many people at it or buying at that stage but we just saw them going around the ring on the computer, and at the money they were at they were cheap," he says.

Dubirango (purple and orange) was a reliable winter performer at DundalkCredit: Patrick McCann

"We bought the two the same day, both were relatively together. Tamazu was £1,500 and Dubirango was £1,000 - he's every bit as good and is getting a break for the summer and hopefully there’s a lot more to come from him too.

"Dubirango is by Pride Of Dubai and they normally take a bit longer [to be ready] if you look at the likes of Just Beautiful [last year's Sceptre Stakes winner] that Ivan Furtado had."

Offering an insight into his thinking, he continues: "I do prefer to buy them myself, it's the conformation you’re looking for, but on that day we had to more go on the breeding as we couldn’t see them as such. Both dams had won and had siblings running that had won or were placed as well, so it was a gamble to take.

"Tamazu's dam Cnocan Gold had won twice in Ireland and he's by Tamayuz, who is a good stallion. And Dubirango's uncle, his dam's half-brother, is California Spangle who has won six times in Hong Kong and was second in this year's Hong Kong Derby and the Champions Mile."

Both horses are owned by Birrane's wife, Fiona Nolan, and he says they are considering offers that have been trickling through for Tamazu, a product of Maurice Regan's Newtown Anner Stud, ever since that victory early on Friday evening.

The pair form part of a small team at one of the county's only training yards in an area which is not a thoroughbred hotbed on the north-western coast.

Birrane, who has a background in showjumping and sports horses, certainly has the facilities at the well-appointed Killala House Stables, which belong to his principal owners Anoj Don and Daniel MacAuliffe. However, by some way his happiest hunting ground has been at a racecourse on the other side of the country.

"We’ve our own fibre track here, it’s much the same surface as Dundalk, and we’ve got two miles of beach right beside us as well so there are a lot of things we can do, give them a swim in the sea and we work a lot on sand.

"I suppose that’s why Dundalk suits us the best for the winter, it’s been a lucky place for us," he explains.

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