| POINT TO POINT |
POINT-TO-POINT
Happy Hunting Ground
F
EOGHÁIN WARD OUTLINES HOW IRISH POINT TO POINTS ARE PLAYING A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN SOURCING NATIONAL HUNT CHAMPIONS
| MAGAZINE 2022 |
OUR days at Cheltenham in March can dictate how successful an entire season has been for individual horses, jockeys, or trainers such is the behemoth that ‘The Festival’ has become. For the Irish point-to-point scene, the 2021 edition brought an unforgettable four days which marked the culmination of sustained growth within the sector over the preceding two decades. Of the 28 races which were run at the Olympics of national hunt racing – including the two races for juveniles which do not incorporate pointers – almost half of them, 13 to be precise, were won by horses who had started their careers in an Irish point-to-point maiden. It was truly a dominant festival for the sport’s exports. In short, having been responsible for 27% of all runners at the Cheltenham Festival, they won 46% of races and an even more impressive 64% of the top-level Grade 1 races. That included the blue-ribbon championship races of the Champion Hurdle with Honeysuckle and Minella Indo’s victory in the Gold Cup. From two miles over hurdles to three and a quarter miles over fences – the impact of ‘Irish Pointers’ as they have come to be known was as diverse as it was impressive. Thoughts that this may just be a flash in the pan, once off occurrence with the stars simply aligning to provide a brief moment in the spotlight for the point-to-point nursery would seem wide off the mark when you consider the results in the novice division. Whether over hurdles or fences, seven of the eight novice races at the Cheltenham Festival were won by Irish point-to-point graduates such as Shishkin and Bob Olinger – with pointing exports also filling 17 of the 24 placings in these races to suggest the short to mid-term outlook looks set to see that level of success maintained. After all, the Cheltenham Festival was certainly
Bob Olinger – Winner at Cheltenham
not four days in isolation, with the entire 2020/21 season in keeping with that theme. No fewer than 113 graded or listed races went the way of Irish Pointers, a figure that included a record breaking 27 in Grade 1 company. Top of the lot was Pat Doyle’s Suirview Stables which has already produced Grade 1 winners such as stars like First Lieutenant, Shattered Love, Death Duty, Bacardys, Brindisi Breeze and
No More Heroes, and it is fair to say that the 2020/21 season continued that trend. His graduates won 13 graded or listed races last season, a total that surpasses what any of his colleagues in the handler’s division achieved, with a trio of Cheltenham Festival winners included in that courtesy of Ballymore Novice Hurdle victor Bob Olinger, Supreme Novice Hurdle winner Appreciate It and Colreevy, the
| 44 | THE ASSOCIATION OF IRISH RACEHORSE OWNERS
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