Seskinane gains 'special win' for McMahon

The Brian McMahon trained Seskinane ended a 23 race and nearly four years spell without a win when landing the Navan Members Handicap Hurdle at Navan today, scoring on his debut race for jockey Mikey Fogarty.

The son of Imperial Ballet was previously successful for trainer Mark McNiff at Killarney in May 2013 and the win was a notable one for trainer McMahon, who later stated “it's special because he was my dad's horse and his anniversary was last Saturday - he's dead two years now. He’s the first horse I had and was also his first horse. We're a long time waiting for today and it's very special to be honest.”

He added “he’s always been a favourite of mine - his last two runs weren't great and I was half thinking he might have had enough but we'll be putting retirement on ice for a while after that!

“The ground is probably key to him and a galloping track. If Noel (O’Brien, handicapper) isn't too hard on him he might go in again while the ground is like that.”

By Tom Weekes, quotes from Gary Carson