Winner Flannery happy to put delighted couple in the frame

We've all been there: a couple want to capture a happy moment and they call on you to take the photograph.

It's a common enough event, but in an unusual coincidence a trainer-turned-amateur-snapper at Ballinrobe last Tuesday evening discovered he was the reason behind the smile on the couple's faces.

Michael Flannery had just trained his first winner in more than five years and was making his way out of the secretary's office at the track when a Croatian man and Indian woman asked him to take their photograph while they uncorked a bottle of champagne.

The reason for such celebrations? They had put €20 each-way on 10-1 shot Palmones, the filly trained by Flannery, in the 6.50 and he paid a tasty €18.20 for a win on the Tote.

"You couldn't make it up," said Flannery. "This Croatian fella and his Indian girlfriend stopped me as I was passing and asked would I mind taking their picture.

"They hadn't a clue who I was. They had a huge bottle of champagne in their hands and I said, 'Fair play, you two are being very good to yourselves'.

"He explained to me he'd had a very good pay day and that he'd just had a huge win on Palmones. He said he had 20 quid 'both ways on her' and that he got 'big winnings'."

Of course Flannery was curious as to how Palmones was picked by the pair and asked them to explain their decision-making process.

"I asked them, 'How on earth did you pick her, sure she had no form?'. The Croatian fella went on to explain that his mother owned a hairdressing salon in his native Croatia and it was called La Palmones.

"After I took the picture I told him I trained the horse. Well I've never felt so popular in my entire life! They were kissing me and hugging me. They wanted pictures with me and he couldn't wait to show his mother. It was their first time racing."

Flannery had some advice for the couple too.

"'Stop now while you're ahead! Don't back any more horses because it doesn't always happen like that.' They couldn't stop laughing!"