DerekO’Connor Straight to thePoint ButcherHollow’ssuccess starts thevital cycleofregeneration

WEhad threefixtures on Sundayand it wasabig dayinthe calendar,featuring the firstfour-yearold maidensofthe season.

All three races were firstonthe card,but the West Waterfordmeeting at Tallow gotstartedhalf an hour beforethe other twomeetings, giving former rider Con McSweeneythe honour of trainingthe firstwinner 2023 in the agegroup.

HisKingston Hill geldingButcher Hollowwas astylishwinner under DarraghAllen and is alovelysales prospectfor Con, who owns him in partnership with BennyWalsh,the Wexfordrider best knownfor his big winnersoverthe bankscourseat

Punchestown

It wasa brilliantday for Bennyand his wife Jennywho have built up a strong reputation for buyinggood young prospects and sellingthem on.

Twoyearsago theysoldThe Goffer, winner of Sunday’s Leopardstown Chase, his fourth win for Gordon Elliott, who thinkshe could be an IrishGrand National horse.

BennyboughtThe Goffer for €5,000 at the Goffs Land Roversalein August 2020 and sold him on to Gordon for €65,000 the following springafter he hadfinishedthird in a four-year-old maiden at Tipperary.

Butcher Hollowwas another inexpensiveLandRover purchase Bennypaid€7,500 for him lastJune

With afour-year-old winunder his belt nowyou canbesurethat this is another sales successstoryinthe makingfor Crossgale stables

This is just one of the many examples we’ll hopetosee on a weekly basis nowthat the four-yearold maidensare up and running. Theseraces arecentral to the whole sector,the place wheremostofthe revenueisgenerated.

Thereare alot of differentthings that have to fit together to make our businesswork. It’s acycle starting with the studs and the breeders, goingthrough the foals sales and the pinhookingbusiness,ontothe store sales,then to the point-to-pointfield, backtothe sales,and on to the racecourse.

Whenthe four-year-olds sell well the producers have the ammunition to go backtothe storesales and the wheel keeps turningsmoothly.

Ellen Doyle’sBaltimore Stables is amongthe topproducers,and the operation made agreat starttothe four-year-old campaign when the Brian Dunleavy-ridden De Tellers Fortune wonthe Ballinaboola maiden in whichseveral of the other bigWexfordstables were represented.

OneofEllen’s mostrecent graduatestothe trackisHalkaDu

Tarbet,a mare boughtbyPeter Molony’sRathmoreStudfor Honeysuckle’s owner Kenny Alexander after winningamaiden at BorrisHouse

Shewon abumperand maiden hurdle on her firsttwo starts for Gordon Elliottand wasn’t beaten far in thirdbehind Ashroe Diamond, one of the main fancies for the

Mares’ Novices’Hurdle at Cheltenham, in arecentGrade 3race at Fairyhouse.

No doubt many of thefour-yearold maidens over the comingmonths will be wonbyhigh-profile handlers, butSunday’sBellharbour race proved that the smaller-scale operations cancompete successfully.

Downmexicoway, ownedand trainedbyJohn Staunton and ridden by Eoin Mahon, wasa very popular localwinner.A geldingbyChamps Elysees, he’s outofaFlemensfirth mare who ranonly twice butisahalfsister to the Jonjo O’Neill-trainedGet Me OutOfHere.

It’s the family of Monty’sPass which alsocame into focuslater in the daywhenthe JimmyMangan homebred Soldier Of Fortune gelding Montys Soldier made awinning debutina maiden at Tallow

In-form RobJames can mountastrong titlechallenge

Thereweresome notable riding performances on Sunday. RobJames hadatreble on horses trainedby

Donnchadh Doyle, Henryde Bromhead and TomKeatingat Bellharbour,bringinghis total for the season to 23.

It’s very early days to be talking aboutthe title race butRob is only four behind BarryO’Neill now. If he cankeepupanexceptional 41 per centstrike-ratehecould throw down abig challenge to Barry, who won his sixthchampionship in arow last season.

It wasa memorable dayfor two riderswho enjoyedtheir first success. Joanne Corish,from KilmoreinCountyWexford, gotoff the mark on OldStyle Humor for Sean Doyle at Ballinaboola,and Thomas Costello,amemberofone of the best-known families in the sport, wonatBellharbour on Asian Master,trainedbyhis father Tony He’s following an amazing tradition. Hisfather rode Best Mate, Florida Pearl and OurVic in the early days of their careers,and his uncles Tomand Dermot both rode more than 200 winnersinpoints

Asian Masterwas havingonly his thirdstart. On the same card last year he wasunlucky to runup againstthe Donnchadh DoyletrainedFact To File,who is nowwith Willie Mullins and finishedsecond to ADream To Shareinthe Grade 2 bumper at Leopardstownon Saturday.

TheunbeatenADream To Share hasaFlatpedigreebut his trainer John Kiely is one of the great personalitiesofIrish jump racing and aman Iowe alot to,onaccount of his supportand guidance when I wasstartingout.Hegavemea lot of good opportunities in bumpers and playedamajor partinlaunching my career

This weekend Ihad causetothink about John and the many others who have supportedmeover the years when Iwas privileged to ride my 1,300th point-topointwinnerat Bellharbour Icouldn’t think of a better place to have done it than ridingLonghouseLegacyfor twogreat people,John Duggan and SamCurling,and surroundedby family and friends at afavourite local track.

JimmyO’Leary (below)onhow he hasbrought banks to Knockanard aftera70-year gap

THE excitement is really buildingahead of the return of banks racingtoKnockanard on Sunday.

My neighbours,Patsand Bill Moore, ownedthe landthe point-to-pointtakes place on. Bill diedagood few years ago and Pats diedfouryearsago and he left me the land.

It wasPatswho introduced me to breedinghorses.About 35 yearsago we gota broodmare betweenusand we starteddoingall thehorses together