by BALLYMAC MICKO out of DROOPYS ENYA whelped 21.4.22
Form (GR Ireland)
Race videos are listed at the bottom of this page
This lovely brindle pup was home bred by Jim Reynolds at Orchard Kennels in Essex to race at Crayford. Sire, Ballymac Micko, comes from that fantastic Ballymac Best x Coolavanny Pet litter that also included Pestana. Micko himself had plentiful early pace and dipped under the magic 24 second barrier at Romford three times. Mother, Droopys Enya was much more of a stayer with winning eight bend open race form at Crayford.
When you breed pups you never quite know what you’re going to get. It could be the next great thing or it might never race. Rio was a slow starter – indeed, all the dogs in the litter were well behind the bitches from an early stage. It took ten trials to grade him on. He tended to be slow away and eased into the third bend for reasons that are still unclear but eventually his A10 debut came along.
Rio missed the break about as much as it’s possible to do so and in his second race he did the same thing. On the third occasion he showed a lot more. Still slow away, he showed enough early pace to go into the bend in contention before getting bumped and bumped again at the second. When he inevitably checked at the third bend those were his chances of winning gone but it was a much better run than previously.
Rio had been getting faster with each outing but lacking trackcraft. On his fourth run he was much faster than his rivals but trapped slowly then threw the race away at the third bend. Time would tell whether he could get it right and the answer was – not at Crayford! Like the rest of his litter, Rio developed the habit of checking badly at the third bend and throwing away any chance he had. He even did so when in front so a rethink was needed and so he upped sticks and moved to Monmore in the hope he could run the bends better at a larger, sweeping track.
Noduff Rio’s race videos in date order