Space skyrockets O'Loughlin and Harvey on to big stage with Ulster National win

The world may be undergoing huge change of late but you wouldn’t know it by Gearoid O’Loughlin and Ben Harvey, two rookies of their trade who rocketed on to the main stage at Downpatrick on Sunday by snaring the €50,000 Randox Health Ulster National with Space Cadet.

The adulation and the buzz of a big day, and they don’t come much bigger on the northern circuit than Ulster National day, was slightly taken away by the fact that racing was taking place behind closed doors, but the magnitude of the achievement wasn’t lost on O’Loughlin.

The trainer looks after a string of horses for Chris Jones at the owner’s base in Dunshaughlin, County Meath, and he has done a fine job in reinvigorating Space Cadet, who provided amateur rider Harvey with his first success under rules.