Roaring Lion mares wins on first start for years

Queen Lioness, who was born, raised and grazed at Tweenhills, made a remarkable return to racing on Saturday when winning at 50/1 at Limerick for trainer Mark Fahey. It was her first start for almost three years.

Queen Lioness is by Roaring Lion out of Likely, who made an impressive winning debut as a 2yo in 2024 and was fancied for the Queen Mary. 

Queen Lioness hade made one start for Johnny Murtagh and Qatar Racing when 4^th of 8 in a 12f Fairyhouse maiden as a 3yo in June 2023. 

Despite going off such a big price in the Limerick maiden, dropped back to 1m, she broke well from the stalls and made all from 14 rivals in the hands of apprentice Paddy Harnett. There was certainly no fluke about her performance.

Her trained told the Racing Post: “I think the owners got her to go breeding and then said, ‘No, we’ll chance her once more'.

“We had her jumping hurdles and doing everything, but Charlie (member of owners P. G. C. Syndicate) said ‘give her a crack on the Flat’. The trip was a question and we thought she wanted soft ground, so we were humming and hawing about even running her!”

What a fantastic story. We will be watching her next start closely!