DerekO’Connor Straight to thePoint Bowe takesaim at career best andhas record within range

AFTER twowinners at Taylorstown last Saturdayand atreble at Ballindenisk on Sunday, champion handler Colin Bowe movedontothe 43 mark for the season.

With twodaysofaction remaining at Ballingarryand Sunday’smeeting at Inchydoney, he hasarealistic chance of improvingonlastseason’s career-bestscoreof46, and equalling Robert Tyner’s47winners,the highesttotal since records began.

That would be afantastic achievementinwhat hasbeena competitiveseasoninwhich 11 other trainers have hitdouble figures, with four saddling20winners or more.

Alarge number of small-scale handlers have hadafair shareof winnerswithagoodstrike-ratetoo

It’s ahealthy sign that so many yards have beenabletomakeanimpacton the trackand in thesales ring, butit’s fair to saythat Colin hasagain been the season’sdominantpersonality. He kept up themomentuminthe four-year-old division when taking the opener at Taylorstown with Wendigo,aGreat Pretender gelding havinghis thirdouting. He alsotook the winners-of-one at the final northern fixture of the year with Theatrical Getaway, asix-year-old Getawaygelding who confirmedthe good impression he made in winning at Dawstown on his second start.

In lastweek’scolumn, Imentioned that the strength of the Bowe stable gave young Bertie Finn an outside chance of catchingDaraMcGill in the battlefor the Under-21 riders’ title

As it turnedout it wasn’t theworst prediction I’ve made this season because Colin and Bertie teamedup successfully at Ballindenisk,winning three maidens in arow and going closetocompletingafour-timer That meansDara’sleadisdownto twoahead of the closingweekend. Thesouthernregionriders’title is still in the balance.Imoved into a one-winner lead by riding Western Harmonytowin the firstdivision of the four-year-old maiden at Ballindenisk for SamCurlingbut I didn’t hold the advantage forlong.

Within half an hour Chris O’Donovanjoinedmeonthe 16-winner mark,makingall in the second division on the TomKeating- trainedCastleIvers.Bythe end of the day, he wasone ahead as aresultofa good winonRocky’s Howyafor DeclanQueallyinthe open.

Thewinner wasreversing the form of the Cheltenham hunter chasewith ItsOnThe Line,and it wasan importantwin because it putthe seven-year-old on level termswith

David Christies’s Bold Enough in a duel for the honour of being theseason’sleadinghorse.Bold Enough hadonly to turn up at Taylorstown on Saturdaytoget a walkover which extendedhis winningsequence to eight.

Whereas Rocky’sHowya hasbeen on the go since winninga maiden at Ballycrystal at the beginningof October, Bold Enough didn’t make his seasonal debutuntil the second weekofFebruary, so he’s squeezeda lot into a shortspace of time SamCurling’s La Feline hasbeenthe star mare of the season with six wins, while Desert Heather did well to complete ahat-trickinthe autumn campaign Declan Queally then sent her hurdlingand shehas come good in the lastmonth.She bolteduponher handicap debutat Kilbegganand backedthat up by winninga€30,000 eventatthe same venuelastFriday.

Mares’ open dilemma

Themares’opens have been generally weak and it’s hard to know what canbedone to make them morecompetitive. You’renever goingtosee atalentedmarecoming backtothe trackfor the closing stages of acareerinthe same wayas high-classgeldings,who beefupthe open category,nolongergood enough for Gradedracesbut retainingthe ability to be competitive in the point-to-pointfield

Apartfromanearly season race at Lisronagh, when she facedten rivals, La Feline hadonly ahandful to deal with in mostofher races,and she walked over at Loughrea.

Lookingbackatthe Lisronaghrace

Isee that the mare whofinished third, Winnie Woodnutt,has made the same transition as Desert Heather to handicap hurdling. She wonfor the Harvey family at Kilbegganlastmonth

Another of the better young mares on the scene wasLar’s Lass.She won amaiden at Lingstown for Tom DreaperinNovember and wasalso successful at Kirkistown beforegoing down the hunter chaseroute, winningatCorkinApril,then runningwelltotakesecond behind geldings at Tramoreand Tipperary.

Youngermares with anysortof potentialdon’t tend to hang around longinthe opens.One such example duringthe autumn campaign was ChatshowHost, apromisingSoldier Of Fortune mare trainedbyDenis Murphy. Shewon twice at Tinahely, beatingWinnieWoodnuttbyeight lengths on the second occasion, beforebeingsold to join Donald McCain.

Import to retain racesthat maintain traditional links

Themares’openatStradballyhad only fiverunners, butfull marksto the JasonO’Reilly-trained Getawayrooney, who woneasily under Adam Feeney. It wasthe fifth winfor the nine-year-old who looked promisingwhen winningthree races in arow in the autumn campaign in 2020.

Shewas off the trackfor twoyears beforereappearinginthe race won by La Feline at Lisronagh. Shewon at BallyvodockinJanuary and ranina hunter chaseatCorklastmonth,and it’sgoodtosee her performingso well for her owner-breeder Michael O’Neill.

Therewas alsoa maiden for older maresonthe Stradbally card.Itwas wonbyChitchat Sally, trainedand ridden by Conor O’Keeffe,brother of jockeySean O’Keeffe.She hadbeen placednine times,sothis wasawelldeservedbreakthrough

Races likethis arealongway removedfromthe standardwesee in the four-year-old and five-year-old maidens,whichare vital to the business of the top producers and handlers

At the same time,it’simportantthe sportkeeps itslinks to the pastand itstraditions,providingscope for owners and small-scale handlers who simplyenjoy the sportfor its ownsake, and value beingpartofa point-to-pointcommunity in their locality.

Niamh Hennessy on herfirst pointto-point successas trainerand jockey with theveteran Fr Humphrey

I’VEhad agreat runwith Fr Humphrey thesepast few weeks –he’swon twoopenraces back-toback at the ageof15. Good ground really is the keytohim.Hehad runa crackerinQuakerstown at Easter when he gotsome better ground, butI rode him quitecold that daybecause I just wantedtoget himhome and to finish arace.When we gotgoingheflew home likea sprinter

After that, Iwas quite confidentI would be able to layupwith them early on when he nextran, so Iwentto Dromahane quite hopeful, even though we were takingon horses likeRocky’s Howyaand

La Feline Ijumped off handy enough, and Iwas happywhen Isaw that Iwas beside Derek O’Connor on La Feline.Iknew Iwas in the rightplace then. I wasquite hopeful after that butI definitely didn’t think we