DerekO’Connor Straight to thePoint ExceptionalEmmet hits the bullseye againwithFeronily

LASTweek’sPunchestown festival lived up to expectations,bringinga successful jumpsseason to an excitingend.Onall fivedays, we sawbrilliant championship performances

In my view, Feronily wasthe star of the show. It wasamazingtowatch the Emmet Mullins-trainedsix-yearoldwin theGrade 1Dooley Insurance Champion Novice Chase less thansix months after Irodehim to winamaidenatRathcannon for Ellmarie Holden on the firstSunday in November

Even when Irodehim to finish thirdtoA Dream To Shareinthe Grade 2bumperatLeopardstownat the beginning of FebruaryIcouldn’t have imagined he would make a name for himself over jumpsso quickly.

Since Noble Yeatsbecame the first horsesince the 1940s to winthe Grand National as aseven-year-old, it’s hardly asecretthat Emmetis prepared to do the unorthodox. But winninga Grade 1chase with ahorse havingonly his second race over fences is exceptional.

PerhapsIcan putthe feat into perspectivebestbyreferring to my experience with twoofthe horses Emmet waspreparedtotakeonlast week.

Runner-up Appreciate It finished second in aChampionBumperat Cheltenhamand wonthree Grade 1s as anovicehurdler,includingthe Supreme Novices’. Admittedly,he missed awhole year alongthe way, buthe’sahorsewith areal depth of experience.It’sbeenfiveyearssince Irodehim to winamaidenat

Dromahane for PatDoyle

Alsointhe line-up againstFeronily wasSir Gerhard.It’sbeenthree anda half years since Irodethe subsequentChampion Bumper and Ballymorewinner to winatBoulta for Ellmarie

As it happened, SirGerhard hadan unexpectedoff-daylastweek, but Appreciate It seemedtorun his race, yetcouldn’t quitematch thetalented youngster who wasgiven afantastic ride by Donagh Meyler to match a greattrainingachievement.

Laterinthe week, Iwas thrilledto team up with Emmet to winthe Champion Hunters Chaseon another six-year-old, ItsOnThe Line.

Fortunately, he showed no illeffects from his fall at Aintree, and found enough to beat the favourite Vaucelet.

He wasthe best of theIrish runnerswhen second to Premier Magic in the St James’sPlace Hunter ChaseatCheltenham,sohe deservedthis

At the same time,Ihavetosay,for the sake of fairness, that it was disappointingatechnical issuetodo with the licensingofhandlers preventedPremier Magic from taking partfor BradleyGibbs.

Much as anyIrish trainer or rider enjoys winningracesas significantasthis one in the hunter chasingcalendar, we allwantall the races at Punchestown to be as competitive as possible

Sour taste

Theexclusion of Premier Magic understandably left a sour taste for our colleagues in the British point-to-pointworld, and Ihopethis isn’t somethingthat will happen again. We needthis race to be a proper championship occasion and puttingbarriers in the wayisnot the waytogoabout it Isaidafter Cheltenhamthat it was ahugethrill to see John Kiely winthe Champion Bumper with ADream To Share. It wasthe same all over again when John Gleesonmadeitfivefrom fiveonthis outstandingbumper horseinlastweek’sGrade 1.

He hadtobetough as well as talentedtobeatTullyhill, aWillie Mullins-trainedgeldingwho deservestoberated one of the best horses to come outofthe season’s autumn point-to-pointcampaign.He wona maiden at Moirafor Colin McKeever last October andwon his firstbumperatGowraninMarch in a canter

LastweekIrecalled howIfinished second on BlazingLissfor John Kiely in the Grade 1bumperatthe 2004 festival, so it wasa nice coincidence to see her name crop up later in the week. Sheis the granddam of

ChasingUnicorn, who made agood impression in winningSaturday’s bumper for the Crawfords in the colours of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede

It’s unusualfor Enda Bolger not to winone of the cross-countryraces at the meeting. Iwas outofluckonmy rides for him and the closesthecame waswhen HarrySwanpartnered Stealthy Tomintosecond in the La Touche

It wasa disappointingweekfor the stable by usualstandards,but at the same time it wasgood to see some other deservingwinners have their bigmoment.

On theopening day, Denis Murphy wonthe Ladies Cupwiththe mare ThreeByTwo,verycapably ridden by Tiernan PowerRoche.Itturned outaninformativerace because the runner-up Vital Island came out again twodayslater and wonthe La Touche for RichardO’Keeffe and BennyWalsh,and the50-1 third Subset went twoplaces better on the final day, winningat33-1 under BarryStone for trainer Peter Maher, who alsosaddled the runner-up TheLadiesCup formwould also have helped to find the Bishopscourt Cupwinner, the John Carr-trainedFr Gilligansvoyge whodead-heated with ThreeByTwo in amaiden at BorrisHouse in March.

Vital Island’s wininthe La Touche confirmedhis reputation as abanks specialist.Hehas been dominant over the Lingstowncourseand won over the new courseatKnockanard in February.

Goffs spectacular

Notall theexcitementlastweekwas on the track. TheGoffs Punchestown sale wasaspectacular success, the headlines made by the Colin BowetrainedFairyhousewinner Qualamita,boughtbyMagsO’Toole fora stunning€500,000.

Denis Murphy’sTralee winner Histrionic sold for €450,000, Gordon Elliottmadeseveral expensive purchases, and almosthalfthe catalogue changed handsfor more than €200,000, underliningthe strength of the market for high-class point-to-pointers.

I’mconfidentwe’ll see some of them backatPunchestown this time nextyear proving their worthonthe track.