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.

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