His half-brother Lough Derg Farmer was fourth over at Newbury earlier, but Balliniska Band did a lot better than that when landing a gamble on his debut in the Bank Of Ireland Kildare Supporting Naas RFC (Pro/Am) INH Flat Race.

Another half-brother, Gowiththeflow, booked his Cheltenham ticket at Doncaster on Thursday.

Their dam, Maryiver, was no bad racemare herself, winning a point-to-point and two on the track.

She looks a better brood though, and we could be hearing plenty more about the Come Home Sober Syndicate-owned and Charles Byrnes-trained Balliniska Band.

He cruised around under Ray Barron and he didn't need much assistance from the saddle to beat Eagle Roque by two and a quarter lengths.

Balliniska Band was backed from 11/4 into 11/8 favouritism on track, after bigger prices had been availed of earlier.

"He's a nice horse and he'd been working well. He's a half-brother to Gowiththeflow who won on Thursday, and another nice horse called Lough Derg Farmer," explained Byrnes.

"I've been buying foals for the last four or five years, and he was one of the batch. Richie Downes buys them for me. He's probably the first one of them to run so hopefully it's a good omen.

"He only cost 9,000 and is a fine big horse who will make a chaser. He'll probably have one more run before the end of the season.

"The syndicate have had great success with the likes of Sea Light, and a lot of them are local to me. He's called after a dog that won the English Derby (in 1977)."

(AM & EM)