Point-To-Point Weekley Racing Post 12-10-22

DerekO’Connor

Straight to thePoint

Atough season aheadifloss of Loughrea isn’taone-off

THE SECOND weekend of the autumn campaign broughtthe first setbackof the season, the cancellation of the Galway Blazers fixtureatLoughrea because of an insurance-related issue

Loughrea is apopular venueand it wasapitytoloseameetingthat usually gets the season in the West off to alively start.

Unfortunately, insurance issues have createdmajor problems in virtually everysectorofthe Irish equestrian worldoverthe lastcouple of years.

Therehavebeentimes when it seemedasifpoint-to-pointingfaced aserious threattoits continuing existence

Buta lot of good work hasbeen goingonbehind the scenes and it’s fair to say the point-to-point community approachedthe new season with asense of optimism that everythinghad beenresolved.

In arecentnewspaper interview, Lord Waterford, who is chairmanof the Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association and hosts apoint-to pointonhis CurraghmoreEstate near Portlawinthe spring, gave a detailedaccountofthe developments that hadtaken place

Most of his remarkswere specifically relatedtohuntingbut he alsospoke generally aboutthe workingofthe hunt clubs whichare involved with point-to-points throughout Ireland.

Although Ihavetoadmit alot of the technical detail aboutthe insurance market wasa bitovermy head, IknowIwasn’t the only one who wasreassuredbywhat Lord Waterfordhad to say.

Until the middle of lastweekall seemedset forthe Loughrea fixture to go ahead and instructions had alreadygone outfor the fences to be set up and thecourseprepared, only for the news of the cancellationto break on Thursday morning.

Iunderstand the issuewas the need to have asolicitor on hand to oversee the signingofwaivers

Apparently, no solicitor was available locally. That surprised me since Iwould have imagined the Blazers would have no shortage of supporters with good contacts in the legalworld in Galway city and in the county.

I’mtold that the hunt committee received aquotefromaDublin based office that theyfelt wastoo expensivetojustify.

With the pressure on hunt finances theyhad atough decision to make, butitwas disappointingtolosea meetingatsuch an early stageofthe season.

We’ll have enough to deal with whengroundand weather conditions deteriorateinthe depths of winter,sothe lossofany fixture is somethingtoregret.

Iwouldn’t want to make ahuge deal of it or startthrowingblame around, butlet’s hope it wasjusta one-off and not somethingthatis goingtooccurregularly. Otherwise, it’s goingtobea challenging season, and disappointingfor supporters who look forward to the dayout and the all-round entertainmentsomanyofthe hunt committees offer

It’s good to hear that no problems areanticipatedatPortrushand Tinahely at the weekend.

Brain Power wins brotherly showdown betweenMcGills

After asmart performance from Gordon Eliottt’s Hardline at Castletown-Geogheganonthe openingweekend of the season, another high-classformer track performer,Brain Power, impressedin winningthe open at Moiraon Saturday.

Runner-up to Hardline six days earlier,lastyear’s most successful

pointer,SomeMan, wasagain sent off the odds-on favourite underOran McGill.

In ashowdownbetween the McGill brothers,itwas the younger, Dara, ridingBrain Powerfor Warren Ewing, who gotthe better of Oran’s mountwith astylish win.

Awinner of the International Hurdle at Cheltenham and of the Grand National Hurdle at FarHills in America, Brain Powerfailedtoscore in threestarts duringlast season’sautumn campaign butgot one on the boardatTyrella in Januarybefore havingabreak

TheKalanisi geldingwill turn 12 inafew months’ time,but there’s plenty of life left in him

Leading northern owner Wilson Dennison had adouble on the card,takingthe four-year-old maiden with the

French-bred Tullyhill,trained by ColinMcKeever, and alsoscoring with the six-year-old Gorthill, trained by his daughter Caroline McCaldin.

Colin Bowe,who saddledthe runner-up in both races,kept up his good start to the season by landing the five-year-old maiden with the BarryO’Neill-ridden Guillaume,a Yeatsgelding whosedam Theleze wonamaidenhurdle for Willie Mullins

Mustameet Secret wonthe mares’ maiden for Meathtrainer Hugh Finegan, providingafirstwinner for his nephew Eoghan.

This is astory of continuingfamily successsince the home-bred Mustameet Secret,who ranover hurdles on the trackduringthe summer,isout of the Finegans’mare NeverASecret, who wasalsohomebred andwon abumperand two races over hurdles

It’s always nice to see mareslike this deliveringfor afamily likethe Finegans.

‘Ina showdown betweenthe McGill brothers,it wasthe younger,Dara, whogot thebetter of Oran’

Actionfrom thecourseatLoughreainMarch,with Future Benefitsand Laura Costello (yellowsilks) on theirway to landingthe adjacenthunts maiden

Pictures: HEALYRACING

MoiraEquestrian Centre manager

Eoin Barry on the farm’s attractions

I’M THE farm manager at MoiraEquestrian Centre, which hosted the Iveagh Foxhounds point-to-pointon Saturday, and I’ve been involved in racingthroughout my life.

I’moriginallyfromKilworth, in Cork, andmostofmy family’sinteresthas been in greyhound racing, butI used to be the secretaryofthe point-to-point at home before IwenttoBritain to work for KimBailey,TimmyMurphy and Fergal O’Brien.

When Icame backImoved up north and married the former point-to-pointrider KarenFerris. Idid have my trainer’s licence for awhile, and duringthat time we were lucky enough to have awinner at Down RoyalwithLusis Natureain2018, and we also hadgood successbetween the flags.

Idon’t have ahandler’s permit this season. After all the stoppagesfor Covid Idecided it wasn’t worthtakingitout whenyou have only one horse I’matGortnamoney Farm

‘It’sa brilliantfacilityfor handlers andschooling racesare very popular’

and it’s greattostillbeworking in racing. Iwas originally here part-time at the weekends when the owner Maggie Allen’sson Paddy died. When she asked me to come herefull time Idid and it hasworked outwell.

Forthe point-to-point, I have the trackready for the hunt andthen theycome and putupthe parade ring and finish the preparations Thankfully, the ground was just lovely,ithad anice sponge to it.I hadwatered andspiked the trackaweekand ahalf beforehand and then we hada nice bit of rain and showers throughout last week. If I hadn’t watered it would be proper good ground butthat just gotitintothe ground and really finisheditnicely.

It’s gettingharder and

harder managingwith the weather,especially at this time of the year,because if you do overwater the course and you getbad weather the ground could go soft.Ideally, you aretryingto getgood-toyielding ground to keep everyone happy. It can be difficult sometimes butyou can only do the best you can.

It’s apity therewere only 62 entries,but we had double the number of horses that were entered for the point-to-pointschoolinghere over the fences on the trackon Sundaymorning.

Schoolingraces arevery popularhereand lastyear they were better than ever.We hadpeople travel from Wexfordand Tipperaryand some of the top track trainerscould come up with 40 or 50 horses at atime

It’s a brilliant facility for the handlers.We have afield outthe front with 15 acres and thereare four fences around that field. There’sanother 50-acrefield outthe backofthe farmwhere the old point-to-pointused to be that we usejustfor gallopingongrass.It’sseven and ahalffurlongs around

with afour-furlongstrip up the middle wherethe Flat lads breeze their horses.

At the side of the current trackthereisafurlong-and-ahalf circlegallop,withtwo and ahalf of astraightand a furlongofa circle at the top for pullingup. That allwentinjust beforePaddy died, butMaggie wantstocontinue on what he hadplanned.

Lastyear we putina new carpet-fibreschoolingstrip and thereare three fences and four hurdles beside the gallop We alsohavethe cross-country coursetoo

No jump on it is over 90cm, so thereweretrainers here with three-year-olds who will be point-to-pointinginthe spring. They school around the crosscountrytoget them startedand builduptheir experience

We’ll have ourfirstday of schoolingraces nextTuesday and then theywill be on every thirdweekfromthere. It suits the tracktrainers because it’s twoweeks beforethe meeting in Down Royal, and then alot of the lads will bringthree year-olds the following dayto poparound,sowehavea mix of tracktrainers and point-to pointhandlers. Theschooling races will be on the go until the end of March.

I’malsotryingtoorganise one dayaweekfor the northern handlers wherethey would all come hereonthe one dayfor what effectively would be aworkmorningfor them together.It’sagreat facility to have for them and we all work well together

EoghainWard

Badmemoriesofinsurance saga triggered as fixture fallsvictimtolegal problems

LAST weekend’s point-to-point action hadalow-key feel with the programmecut in half by the cancellation of Loughrea due to legalconcerns,while just 33 runnerstook to the track at the sole survivingfixtureat Moira.

News of the cancellation of theGalway Blazers fixturewas released on Thursdaymorning and wasmet by widespread co ncern as it tr ig ge re d memories of theinsurance difficulties which hung over the sportthroughout much of last season.

Se ve ra lf ix tu re sw er e cancelledinlate2021 and January2022 due to the diffi cultiesfaced by hunt commit tees in securing insurance cover.

That wasbeforethe introduction of anew National Hunt SteeplechasePoint-to-Point and Field Sports Insurance Programme policythis year whichallowed the season to proceed uninterruptedfrom February.

Under this groupinsurance policy,huntcommitteeshave hadtosecurethe services of a solicitor to witnessthe signing of awaiver by riders at each fixture this season.

This conditionwas met by

the Westmeath Foxhounds, who were the first committee to stage apoint-to-pointthis season under thepolicyat Castletown-Geoghegan on October 2. HuntsinNorthern Ireland arecovered by a differentpolicywhichdoesnot have this requirement.

However, the Galway Blazers enco unte re dad if fi cu lty securingsuch legalservices, with the costassociatedwith this provision believed to have

reachedafour-figure sum, and with further concerns around theirpolicytheyfeltunable to runthe fixture, although they were informedthe insurance polic yhad met the IHRB requirements

Such issuesare not expected to roll into this weekend’s Shil lelagh&District Foxhounds fixture at Tinahely, with the committeehavingsecured a solicitor to attend at Fairwood Park,while efforts areunder

wa yt of in da wo rk ab le long-termsolution.

Badbreak for Harvey

Alex Harvey,who lastseason wonthe INHSCspringnovice riders series,isexpectingto mis st he en tir ea ut um n campaign aftersustaining an injurywhenrace-riding in Americaduringthe summer

The19-year-old jockey, who rode sevenwinners lasttermin his firs tf ull se as on

poi nt -t o- poin ti ng, ha d ventured statesideatthe end of last season to work for Keri

Brion. However, he wasleft requiringanoperationafter a fall from the Neil Morristrain ed Se is mic Wave at Colonial Down si ne ar ly

August

“The horse stepped at the jump and fell. Whatever wayI went down my ankledislocated and Iended up also breaking thetalusboneinmy

ankle,whichI’vebeentold is quite an awkwardboneto break,” the Maynooth Univer sity studentsaid.

“I’m in abootatthe minute and I’mgoingtobeout until the new year unfortunately.”

TheNaulnativewas present, however, to see his older br othe rB en gu ide thei r family’sh ors e, Wi nn ie Woodnutt,tosuccessinthe mares’ winners-of-twocontest at MoiraonSaturday.

Newera at Kinsale

Kinsale will hostthe opening fixture of the season on the Corkand Waterfordcircuiton Sunday October 30, marking the beginningofa new erain the re gion as Ca ther ine O’Driscoll takes over the reins of entrysecretaryinthe region from Mary Hickey.

This is arole Hickeyfilled for the Cork& WaterfordAssocia tion for morethan40years beforeher retirementthis year, as er vi ce wh ic hs aw her receivespecial recognition at last season’spoint-to-point awards

Entries in the region canbe ma de by phonin gan ew nu mb er :0 89-2280768 or online at www.corkwater fordp2p.ie

EOIN BARRYWAS TALKING TO EOGHAIN WARD

Pictures: HEALYRACING

19-year-old Alex Harvey is sidelined untilthe newyear afterfracturinganankle in theUnitedStates

Brain Power helps Dara outwit brother Oran in McGills’ private battle

A LITTLE under nine months after Oran McGill partnered Brain Power to win at Tyrella it was the turn of his younger brother Dara to win on the Grade 1 winner

He teamed up with the 2019 American National winner to land the day’s feature race, the Northern Excavators Ltd open for novice riders.

And he did it against Oran, who was riding the odds-on favourite and last year’s leading horse, Some Man.

Last season’s winner of seven ra ces wa s ra ce -fit after finishing runner-up to the talented Hardline at Castle town-Geoghegan the previous we ek end, bu t he ha d no answer to the power of his rival.

Br ain Po we r wa s clear second favourite and the two principals jumped the penulti mate fence almost as one, but Brain Power’s superior speed began to tell on the downhill run to the final fence as he took control, eventually winning by eight and a half lengths

“That was very good,” trainer Warren Ewing said. “Brain Power is a classy sort at his best and he seemed at his very best. He jumped really well and Dara said he got there very easily.

“I’m thinking about getting a hunter-chase licence and targeting the bigger hunter chases in the spring with him We’ll keep him on similar ground too as it brings the best out in him.”

The Moira card proved a memorable one for the Harvey family. Not only was Brain Power bred by Dubliner David Harvey, his trainer son Willie and jockey grandson Ben were also on the scoreboard when they combined to take the Alexa nde r Mi lls ma re s’ winners-of-two with Winnie Woodnutt

The Kalanisi mare, who had won her maiden at Portrush by a distance in March, faced just one rival on her return to the pointing fields, last week’s Ca st leto wn -G eo ghe ga n maiden winner Lough Na Fooey.

But it was a one-sided match as Winnie Woodnutt was always in command, making every inch of the running under the 2020 champion under-21 rider before winning unchallenged by 26 lengths

Star performance

Brain Power thrived in the conditions to post his best effort since switching to the point-to-point fields last season

Owner Wilson Dennison had to watch three of his horses fill the runner-up spot at the season’s opening fixture at Toomebridge a week earlier, but he had a welcome change of fortune when his black-andwhite colours were twice in the winner’s enclosure.

Hi s da ugh ter Ca ro line McCaldin continued her strong start to the season she had a winner and two seconds on the opening weekend when she sent out Gorthill to land the INHSC Wilson Auctions older ma iden It wa s a sec ond successive victory in the race for the Dromara trainer

Just as Faith Loving did 12 months earlier, Gorthill joined McCaldin having started out his career with Colin McKeever and the Rail Link gelding left his previous form behind as he overcame a serious blunder at the penultimate fence to beat the Toomebridge runner-up Gouazec by a widening nine lengths under Noel McParlan with the rest of the field well strung out.

It had been McKeever who supplied Dennison with his opening victory of the season in the Dennison Commercials Ltd four-year-old maiden, a race which he also sponsored with Tullyhill

The French-bred son of Martaline and rider Cormac Abernethy survived a scare at the last fence before beating ch am pion tr ainer Col in Bowe’s Peso In My Pocket by a neck

“He was a horse we liked a lot last year but never got a chance to run him with the ground being better than he would have liked,” McKeever said.

“He has strengthened up well and you would have to be happy with the way he won.”

The Bowe team had better fortunes in the Dennison JCB five-year-old geldings’ maiden when Guillaume, bred by Sally Rowley-Williams, opened his account at the fifth time of asking.

Showing no ill-effects for reappearing just seven days after he had pulled up at Toomebridge, the son of Yeats was aided by an assured round of jumping to take control of the race from the home bend.

Ch am pi on ri der Ba rr y O’Neill never had to get overly serious on Guillaume as they went on to beat Maur ice Sheehy’s homebred Go Frankie by four and a half lengths.

Eoghan Finegan enjoyed an early 18th birthday present when his uncle Hugh Finegan supplied him with his first victory as Mustameet Secret came from behind to win the

Gortnamoney Farm and Tatter salls NH five- and six-year-old mares’ maiden.

Pl ace d at Ca stleto wn Geoghegan in the spring, the bay mare, who was bred by the winning trainer in whose col ou rs she als o ra ce d, returned from a spell hurdling to account for Intersky Sunset by a length and a half

“I’m delighted to get my winner,” the winning rider said. “I’m at college in Kildalton and ride out for Joseph O’Brien when I’m down there and for Noel Meade when I’m back home in Trim. I also help my uncle when I can.”

Noel McParlan gets a fine leap out of Gorthill on his way to winning the old

Iveagh

OWNER: W W Dennison; HANDLER: Caroline McCaldin

18 Alexander Mills

INDEX

TOMKERR