Point to Point Weekly 25-01-23

Grade 2 winner over hurdles MAHLER MISSION, bred by Ivor Dulohery, won a Beginners Chase at Navan on Sunday for John McConnell by 10 lengths and looks a likely sort for the Grade 2 National Hunt Chase. Other recent winners include Grade 1 Brown Advisory Novice Chase favourite THE REAL WHACKER

DerekO’Connor

Straight to thePoint

It’s ForMeprovidesanideal pointerfor ChampionBumper

THE Champion Bumper at Cheltenhamhas been a fine advertisementfor point-to-pointgraduates in recentseasons.It could be the same storythis year in view of an impressivedisplayfrom It’s ForMeonhis debutfor Willie Mullins at NavanlastSaturday.

Willie haswon the Grade 1event 12 times in all, and this French-bred geldinglooks abit special.

A€40,000 purchase at the Goffs Land Roversalein 2021, he wona Loughanmoremaidenbyeight lengths for StuartCrawfordbefore being sentbyownersSimon Munir and IsaacSouedetoWillie, who also trains recentGrade 1chase winner Blue Lord and very promisingnovice hurdler Impaire Et Passefor them

Theownersare greatsupporters of Irish racingand it’s good to see them with apotentialstar with apoint-topointbackground.

It’s ForMehackedupatNavan, poweringupthe hill to beat two horses who hadalsorun in points TheRichard O’Brien-trainedrunnerup Suttons Hill showed howmuch he hadimproved since lastseason when winningingood styleat Turtulla in November for County Limerickhandler Seamus Murnane Saturday’srace proves that he’s continuinginthe rightdirection.

Thethirdhorse, Ballystone,looked promisingfor Colin McKeever and owner Wilson Dennison when second to Kinbaraina maiden at Broughshane last May. TomGibney paid £120,000 for him at the Goffs UK spring sale

Kinbarastarted offinthe Crawford nurseryand changedhands at the same sale as Ballystone,with John McConnellpaying£70,000. He was not longingetting areturn. The Mahler geldingproducedasmooth performance in winninga bumper at the July meeting at Killarney.

ButbacktoIt’sFor Me.Whenyou see aMullins horse winninginastyle likethis with the festival lessthan twomonths away,you have to think he could be the stable’s number one

Iwas interestedtohear Willie say that he’s not at allflashyinhis work He said somethingonthe same lines after another of his bumper horses, the ex-Colin Bowe-trainedChosen Witness, woningreat stylefor Jody Townend at LimerickatChristmas

Chosen Witness dead-heated at

Ballinaboola on his only point-topointstart, whereas It’s ForMewon easily at Loughanmore, beatingHe’s Ultimate, awell-backedfavourite trainedbythe respectedPat Turley.

We haven’tseenthe runner-up since,but he hasalovely pedigree and hada good home reputation. The third, Rock My Way, wastrained by anothertop northernhandler,Warren Ewing. He wonamaidenat

Castletown-Geogheganbeforethe end of theseasonand ranahugerace at 66-1 when chasinghome the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trainedDromahane winner Weveallbeencaughtina maiden hurdle at Cheltenham on NewYear’s Day.

Obviously, there’saworld of difference between point-to-point formand what you need to wina high-classbumper, butinthe past decade,asmoreand moretop horses have come on stream in points, severaloutstandingbumper horses have emerged I’ve ridden two subsequent Champion Bumper winners to amaiden pointsuccess, 2013 winner BriarHillat Necarne the previous spring for theWilson Dennison team,and 2021 winner SirGerhard on his debutatBoulta for Ellmarie Holden.

The2019 winner EnvoiAllen wasa Ballinaboola winner for Colin Bowe Thechampion handler wasalso

responsible

That year,the point-to-point influence wasincrediblystrong. In second place therewas Appreciate It, aDromahane winner for PatDoyle, thirdwas Queens Brookwho had wonfor Aidan Fitzgerald at the same venue. Fourth-placedThirdTime Luckihad runinaBritish point, and thefifth Eskylanebegan with Colin McKeever

Lastyear American Mike,aSean Doyle-trained Corkpoint-to-point winner,had to settle for second behind the Mullins star Facile Vega

This year’s possiblecontenders alsoinclude aGordon Elliott-trained pair,BetterDaysAhead, who wonfor Warren Ewing at Lisronaghlast Februaryand wonwell at Fairyhouse on his bumper debut, andPourLes Filles,aLeopardstown Christmas winner who wonfor Colin Motherwayongood ground at Bartlemylastspring.

By the time Cheltenham comes around, the 2023 four-year-old campaign will be well underway.As

well as lookingfor the hurdlers and chasers of the futurethere’ll be plenty of people hopingtocome acrossone of nextseason’spotential bumper stars

O’Connor reacheslandmark

Lastweek’srearranged Thurles card gave one of my colleaguesa memorable win. MikeyO’Connor wasathis strongest in gettingthe Liam Burke-trainedGrangeIsland to beat Global Assembly in the Rathronan Maiden Hunter Chase, the 500th winner of his career It washis 89th racecoursesuccess togo with 411point-to-pointwins, a total that leaves him only twobehind Enda Bolger on theall-time list.

Mikeyhas hadabig influence on the point-to-pointscene formore than 20 years. Nowadays,heand his wife Mags areproud parents of young Dylan, atalentedpony-racing rider.I’m sure he’ll be inspired by the determination and hard work that hasmadehis dad such acompetitive rider over the years

Master of the hunter chase

Global Assembly’s defeatwas only a temporary reversefor trainer David Christie who wonthe hunter chases at Down RoyalwithVaucelet and at Limerickwith UltimateOptimist over the Christmas period

It didn’t takethe northern stable longtoget backinwinningformwith Ferns Lock who boltedupfrom BillawayatThurlesonSunday.

Thesix-year-old Telescopegelding wontwo of his three startsinpoints lastseason and beat good yardstick ItsOnThe Line with plenty in hand on his racecoursedebutat FairyhouseinNovember

He’s abig powerful horseand it sounds as if David is intendingto steer clear of Cheltenhamthis season, believingthis is ahorse with aserious long-termfutureand that it mightbeacaseoftoo much too soon. He’s alovelyhorsetohave waitinginthe wings.

Fans of lastyear’s Cheltenham and Punchestown winner Billaway shouldn’t panic.Five times nowhe hasfailedtoshowhis best on his first outingofthe season. Lastyear he wasbeaten12lengths by Winged Leader in the same Thurles race but took his revengeatCheltenham following aNaaswin in between.I definitelywouldn’t write him off.

‘Whenyou seea Mullinshorse winningina stylelike this,with thefestival less than two months away, youhavetothink he couldbethe stable’s number one’

for 2020 winner Ferney Hollow, who startedoff at Knockanard

It’s ForMeputsupahugelyimpressive display underPatrickMullinsinwinning thebumperatNavan on Saturday

PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS)

Mikey

O’Connor

talks about hitting a special milestone and some of the great horses he has helped to the track

IRODE my 500th winner in point-to-points and on the track on Grange Island in the hunter chase at Clonmel last week and, starting off, I never would have thought I would have got to a number like that.

I was badly injured in Boulta ten years ago and I wasn’t right for ages I had a shoulder injury and bad concussion and it took me the best part of six months to get over the whole thing. It cost me two to three years to get fully back to myself

In racing, someone will always step into your shoes when you’re out and you have to rebuild connections I didn’t think it would be possible to get to a figure like 500 after it.

The lads had said I was getting close to it, so I knew it was coming up, but I’ve always been anxious to join Enda Bolger on 413 point-topoint winners Touch wood, I’m only two winners away from that now.

When I was 15 I started riding out at Enda’s. The amount I learned working and schooling there was unbelievable He was the daddy of point-to-pointing – he was the king.

You would be riding against him in a race and out in the country he would just sneak around, getting lengths everywhere. Horses would win without knowing they’d even had a race with him on board. He was a master of it

In the last four or five years I thought of packing it in, but I always said I’d love to join him on 413 pointto-point winners

It was nice to get the winner in Clonmel for Liam Burke as we are having a good season together I’ve ridden four horses in point-to-points for Liam and three of them have won.

I’ve always found him good to deal with He will tell you to a tee how a horse should be ridden and it is up to you then to carry it out. If he was telling you something about a horse I would always be very quick to take it in, knowing from experience he would be on the ball.

My wife Mag has been a super supporter to me and the kids love going racing. My son Dylan has been pony racing champion for the last two years.

If Dylan had the choice we wouldn’t have to ask him twice whether he’d ride work at home or go to school. He’d be telling me not to work the horses until he was home from school. He loves the game

He is very neat and strong in a finish and has the makings of a very good rider I say to him that every day riding a horse is a school day; you are learning all the time

It’s great for the kids to have horses around. They always have something to be thinking about. It’s a very healthy way of life There’s nothing worse than being stuck indoors.

I have a couple of nice horses to run that I’m training myself, including Attaboydylan He finished fifth in a four-year-old maiden at Dromahane in November

It was heavy ground but he had a good education and I’m just waiting for the ground to get a bit better for him He’s a very nice horse We have

After my bad injury I never would have thought it possible to reach 500 winners

and without my family I wouldn’t be able to do it

I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of nice young horses along the way, and Forpadydeplasterer and Denman are two that stick out.

Forpadydeplasterer was in Mick Winters’ and Tom Cooper rang me one day looking for a good horse. They had wanted to call the horse a certain name, so it had to be unraced.

How lucky it was the way things worked out that I’d known the horse in Mick’s yard and I told Tom he could be a bit special I was lucky enough to get to ride him on his debut in a bumper at Galway

I’d been riding in a point-to-point earlier that day and my wife and I got a helicopter out of the field. The wind had been bad and Mag turned to me and said ‘Jeez, this doesn’t feel safe’.

so there wasn’t much we could do Thankfully, we arrived in one piece and Forpadydeplasterer won.

I did a lot of the early work with Denman. I rode him a lot as a breaker and did a lot of the schooling with him I remember one day in Thurles

Adrian Maguire said to me, ‘Just tip away on him

He’s tricky but give him a squeeze along the top and see how you are going’ . I remember after I gave him a squeeze I must have been 20 lengths clear coming down to the last –he was just awesome

Colman Sweeney ended up riding him in his point-to-point as he was a neighbour of the man who owned him, but it’s great to have played a part in him

You get a huge kick out of riding good horses like that. It’s like the difference between driving a very good car and a bad one

I’ve met a great bunch of people point-to-pointing and you would have friends for life out of it They are the type of people who are only a phone call away to give you a helping hand, which is huge The racing community is unlike any other MIKEY O’CONNOR WAS

EOGHAIN WARD

TALKING TO

seven or eight horses here

I told her not to worry, but I couldn’t tell her that my stomach was coming up to my mouth at the same time! We were up in the air by then,

PATRICK McCANN (RACINGPOST.COM/PHOTOS

‘After I gave Denman a squeeze I must have been 20 lengths clear – he was just awesome’

Mikey O’Connor lands his 500th winner on Grange Island (near side) at Clonmel last week

SEASON’S LEADERS

Riders

Barry O’Neill 24

Rob James 20

Chris O’Donovan 15

Derek O’Connor 14

North

Barry O’Neill 11

Rob James 4

Derek O’Connor 3

Cormac Abernethy 3

Noel McParlan 3

Dara McGill 3

South

Derek O’Connor 9

Chris O’Donovan 7

Mikey O’Connor 4

John Barry 4

Eoin O’Brien 4

Darragh Allen 4

James Hannon 4

East

Rob James 13

Barry O’Neill 10

Jack Hendrick 6

Dara McGill 4

West

Chris O’Donovan 4

Pa King 3

Rob James 2

Ladies

Georgie Benson 2

Moira McElligott 2

Maxine O’Sullivan 2

Joanna Walton 2

Emily Costello 1

Phidelma Elvin 1

Cara McGoldrick 1

Toni Quail 1

Handlers

Gordon Elliott 12

Declan Queally 11

Donnchadh Doyle 10

Colin Bowe 9

Denis Paul Murphy 8

David Christie 7

Sam Curling 7

Horses

Rocky’s Howya 4

Brain Power 3

The Storyteller 3

Sires

Court Cave 10

Getaway 10

Kalasini 9

Doyen 8

Patience pays off as Pour Me A Double hits the right spot

WILLIE MURPHY took his tally of winners for the season to five when his wife, Moira McElligott, guided Pour Me A Double to complete a Ballycrystal double for the stable

The seven-year-old, owned by th e Da shin g Da mes Sy ndic at e, ha d faile d to complete on his first three starts across a two-and-a-half year period, but the patient approach by connections was finally rewarded

After finishing third at Tattersalls and Tinahely the Pour Moi gelding Pour Me A Double finally got his head in front, accounting for the four-time placed Ahaknowyerself by two and a half lengths

Victory came in one of the longest-named races of the season so far : the Moses Coffey, L & M Motors, Jason Kelly Specialist Cars, Jason Farrell Auto Body Repairs and Ronan Furlong Tyre World older geldings’ maiden.

“He promised to be a very good horse a couple of years ago and I don’t know why things went wrong,” Murphy said.

“He improved from Tinahely and just might improve again The syndicate is made up of my wife, my sister and three of their friends and this is their first horse.”

Pa King was in the saddle as Miss Drussell got Murphy’s Ballycurragh stables on the scoreboard for the day in the Baltimore Stables and Ballyboy Stables older mares’ maiden.

The Flemensfirth mare had failed to find a buyer when offered at last month’s ThoroughBid Christmas sale having finished second at Quakerstown in early December

She entered the Ballycrystal race needing to bounce back from a disappointing effort at Tattersalls on the final day of the autumn term and proved that was a blip by returning 20 lengths clear of Mini Fortune, the only other one of the six starters to complete the course in deteriorating conditions

Star performance

Wingmen proved in a league of his own when pulling clear approaching the home straight and looks a smart sort

“We’ll sell her if we can; she would be a lovely mare for so me bod y in Eng la nd ,” Murphy said. “If we don’t sell we may find a winners’ race.”

Great Pepper justified his short price for the ORHE O’Reilly Hyland Real Estate, Blockword Contractors & PR Firewood confined maiden.

Donnchadh Doyle’s Frenchbred Great Pretender gelding had been picked out by his locally based handler for €28,000 as a yearling in the Arqana sales ring.

A rare Monbeg Syndicateowned runner for Doyle’s stable not to hit the frame this season when making his debut in a four-year-old maiden at Lisronagh in November, the drop into confined maiden grade produced a significantly improved performance as he came home four lengths too good for Flash Du Pistolet.

“He actually didn’t run too badly the first day at Lisronagh. It was very tacky that day and he could have jumped the last and finished fourth,” Doyle said. “He’ll contest a few winners’ races now and we’ll see where we head from there.”

Great Pepper was one of two winners for Rob James, who had earlier teamed up with Gordon Elliott to land the Tattersalls NH, Casey Enterpr is es and Ga in Eq ui ne Nu tr ition fiv e-y ear -old ge ldin gs ’ ma iden wi th Wingmen

Bought for €88,000 by Mags O’Toole at the 2021 Derby sale, the Cathal Ennis-bred son of Kayf Tara was sporting the silks of the Crocodile Pockets Syndicate, colours also carried by the subsequent Grade 1 winner Ginto when he made a 12-length winning debut for

Elliott at Tattersalls in 2020.

Wingmen enjoyed a similarly successful start to his career by mat chin g th at wi nnin g di stance whe n easi ly acco un tin g for fello w newcomer Backtonormal.

“T hat wa s grea t, we’re delighted with that,” Simon McGonagle, Elliott’s head lad, said. “He was doing everything right at home I’d imagine the sales now would be the plan.”

Denis Murphy must have arrived at the Wexford venue with high hopes of a profitable afternoon having landed a hat-trick at the corresponding fixture in 2019, but it proved to be a frustrating day for the Ballyboy stables operator

By the fixture’s end he had come away with three seconds, including one by the hat-trickseeking Garcon Dargent in the Screws & More Ltd, Gahans Bar and Barlou Woodcraft winnersof-two.

The six-year-old had beaten Old Style Humor at Tinahely a fortnight earlier and confirmed the form with that rival once again. However, the pair had to settle for second and third to Gray Rock

A suspension had prevented James Kenny from riding his father Liam’s seven-year-old to victory at Borris House in December but the 24-year-old Gorey rider was back in the saddle for a welcome first victory of the season as Gray Rock came home three-quarters of a length clear of Garcon Dargent.

“Gray Rock has been unlucky as we always happened on one,” Liam Kenny said. “He’s for sale, but if we don’t sell we’ll continue on.”

Cor ma c Doyle ha d not saddled a runner since Tralee in late May, but marked his return by landing the Ballycrystal Stables five-year-old ma re s’ ma iden wi th Von Hallers

.

Doyle’s stable’s regular rider Jack Hendrick has developed a successful partnership with the Denis Murphy team in recent

Miss Drussell and Pa King land the mares’ maiden to initiate a double for handler Willie Murphy (top); Pour Me A Double and Murphy’s wife Moira McElligott complete the job in the geldings’ maiden (right); Gray Rock and James Kenny (red and black check) hold off Garcon Dargent in the winners-of-two (far right)

weeks, but he was back in Doyle’s black and green silks on Von Hallers to inflict this narrow defeat on Murphy’s Caught A Vibe

Just a head separated the pa ir at the line wi th the winning mare, a daughter of Presenting who had failed to finish at Monksgrange on her debut last season, now set to be offered at the Tattersalls Cheltenham sale on Saturday.

“She ran at Monksgrange last year but Rob James was never happy and she scoped wrong afterwards,” Doyle said. “We let her off and she is twice the mare since she came back in.”

Rob James: chasing riders’ title

O’Connor has success in store for McManus

IT IS almost seven years since the most famous colours in jump racing, the green and gold hoops of JP McManus, were last carried to victory in a four-year-old maiden point-topoint.

However, the drought could be set to end. A total of nine four-year-o ld s ow ne d by Mc Ma nu s have re ceiv ed hunter certificates for the start of the new four-year-old maiden season which begins next month

The nine individuals were bought from store sales at Goffs and Tattersalls last year for an average price of just under €80,000, and eac h ha s a pedigree to match its price tag.

The group includes a son of the five-time winner and blacktype placed Avondhu Lady, as well as a Milan gelding out of a sister to the 2013 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Bobs Worth.

McManus’s silks are best as soc ia te d in the re cen t pointing era with the recordbreaking hunter chaser On The Fringe, and Thecraicisninety, who was his last four-year-old maiden winner, at Dromahane in March 2015.

Derek O’Connor was in the saddle on that occasion and it is the 11-time champion rider who sent out his first winner as a handler at Necarne in the au tu mn, wh o ha s the McManus-owned youngsters under his care.

Normal service is resumed for Doyle

Donnchadh Doyle had not saddled a single runner since sending out Speed Davis for an 11-length victory in a fouryear-old geldings’ maiden at Boulta on the final day of the autumn term, but he picked up where he left off at Ballycrystal on Sunday.

Great Pepper became his tenth winner of the campaign with a four-length success in the confined maiden to bring his strike-rate for the season to above 40 per cent and with 17 of his 24 runners finishing either first or second.

Willie Murphy is another handler enjoying a purple patch With the exception of Joe Hannigan, who failed to finish in the Ballycr ystal

opener, each of Murphy’s last 14 po in ti ng ru nne rs ha s finished in the first four, a sequence that stretches to the start of December

This month, three maiden winners have emerged from his Ba lly cur ra gh bas e, an operation which has been bolstered by the addition of the 2018 Irish St Leger winner Flag Of Honour He has joined the stallion ranks at Ballycurragh Stud for the 2023 season.

Christie tightens grip on Cheltenham betting

Last season’s champion hunter chaser Billaway made his return to action on Sunday with Willie Mullins choosing the same Thurles race as last year as the starting point for the Turner family-owned bay. And it was a similar story for the 11-year-old who is yet to make a winning seasonal return.

Last year he trailed home 12 lengths behind Winged Leader and it was another David Christie runner, Ferns Lock, who relegated him to second this time by 20 lengths

The result caused last year’s Festival Hunter Chase winner to ease to a top price of 9-1 to retain his crown in March.

It means Christie is responsible for the top three in the betting for the leading hunter chase of the year title, in Vaucelet, Winged Leader and Ferns Lock

Although Christie has said he intends to keep the six-year-old Ferns Lock on home soil to contest the Tetretema Cup at Gowran Park rather than taking a trip to Cheltenham, that stranglehold on festival betting is a notable show of strength by the Fermanagh handler

Liam Burke’s Grange Island is the only non-Christietrained hunter chase winner this season as he narrowly beat the Derrylin stable’s representative Global Assembly in the rearranged maiden hunter chase at Clonmel last week.

The Irish team of hunters has a strong look to it this season and Billaway will attempt to enhance his credentials at Naas next month by attempting to win his target there for a fourth year in succession en route to Cheltenham

PHOTOGRAPHS: HEALY RACING