Sonny Carey's horses to follow: "We have always thought a lot of her"

When Lilannbee won the mares’ bumper at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve, when she kept on well for Michael Kenneally to get home by almost two lengths from Luciole Des Bordes, the pair of them clear, in the final horse race in Ireland of 2025, she brought up win number three in December for her trainer Sonny Carey.

The Nagger Reidy had battled on bravely for the same Michael Kenneally to win a hugely competitive handicap hurdle at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival just three days earlier and, two weeks before that, Brosna Shine had won a four-year-old fillies’ bumper at Fairyhouse under Pa King.  That’s three.

Sonny Carey is having his best season ever as a trainer and, as we move further into the teeth of the season, it could get even better. 

Here, he highlights five horses who could be worth following as the season continues to progress.

We have always liked her. She ran a big race on her racecourse debut to finish third in the Goffs Defender Bumper at the Punchestown Festival last April, and we were delighted with her win in the four-year-old fillies’ bumper at Fairyhouse last month.

She has always shown us an awful lot at home.  She’s a nicely-bred filly and she’s very straightforward.  We’re hoping that she’ll come on for that run at Fairyhouse.  We’ve entered her for the Grade Two mares’ bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival, and she could take her chance in that.

She battled on well to win a mares’ bumper at Punchestown in June on just her second run, and that race has been working out well.

She hasn’t been able to match that level of form in two runs since, but we feel that she is coming right now.  We have schooled her over hurdles and she has schooled well. She’ll go for a maiden hurdle in the next few weeks.

She doesn't show us much at home, so she surprised us when she ran so well on her racecourse debut at Ballinrobe in September, when she finished a close-up third in a mares’ maiden hurdle behind Korinthia, who finished third in the Grade 3 Feathard Lady Novice Hurdle at Down Royal next time.

She followed that up by winning her maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse in October, when she showed a good attitude and kept on strongly.

She runs on Saturday at Navan in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle.  It will be her first run back since she finished down the field in that Feathard Lady Novice Hurdle at Down Royal at the end of October, but, however she fares on Saturday, she should be a lovely filly for the spring.

We have always thought that she was good.  She was just a bit on the weak side when she started off, but she has always shown us plenty, and she is progressing nicely now as she is getting stronger.

She ran a nice race to finish second in a bumper at Tramore at the end of November, and she put up her best performance yet last time at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve, when she stuck to her task well to win a mares’ bumper.  

Bambino Fever won that mares’ bumper last year, and she obviously went on to great heights last season.  Bambino Fever won the Grade Two mares’ bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival on her next run after she won the Punchestown bumper, and we’re going to let Lilanbee take her chance at the Dublin Racing Festival.  We have always thought a lot of her, and it will be interesting to see how she gets on there.

He’s so tough and consistent.  He has been great.  He had to dig deep to get up and win the handicap hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas.  He is a horse who doesn't like being crowded in his races, but once Michael got him out and got him rolling, he really stayed on well.

He runs again on Saturday at Navan, in the two-and-a-half-mile Navan Handicap Hurdle.  He got 6lb from the handicapper for winning at Leopardstown, but he goes into the race in good form.  He’s a horse who takes his racing well, and we hope that he can be competitive again on Saturday.