Pictures: Healy Racing
A total of 14 riders went to post in the final leg of the Corinthian Challenge Charity Race Series for Irish injured jockeys at Leopardstown Racecourse and, putting the Kingdom on the sporting map once again, the exciting charity race for amateurs was won by Kerry native Fiona Dowling aboard Vera Verto.
The horse is owned by the From the Clouds Partnership and trained by Gavin Cromwell and the win sparked great celebrations.
Fiona started her career in the thoroughbred industry after finishing school and graduated from the Irish National Stud course in 2007.
She started working for Gordon Elliott and led up Silver Birch to win the 2007 Aintree Grand National and she also rode two point-to-point winners and since then, determined Fiona has worked in the thoroughbred industry in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
In the past five years, she moved into the educational sector and earlier this year the Kerry woman moved back to Ireland and joined the team at the Racing Academy Centre of Excellence in Co Kildare.
“I was absolutely over the moon to partner Vera Verto to victory in the final race of the challenge at Leopardstown. It’s always been a personal goal of mine to ride a winner on the racecourse so Saturday really was a dream come true,” Fiona said.
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