HAVING been unable to get into the Higgins family’s Moneyglass Estate last year, as the silage couldn’t be cut because of the poor weather, the Mid Antrim Hunt is returning to the Toomebridge venue next Saturday, October 6th for the commencement of the 2018-2019 point-to-point season.

The organising committee has a new chairman at the helm in Katrina Mackie whose sister, Caroline McCaldin, has registered three Co Down hunter certificates for geldings she trains for herself and Niall McCarthy.

Katrina and Caroline’s father, Wilson Dennison, had registered Mid Antrim hunter certificates for 18 horses by last Wednesday week. The vast majority are four-year-olds but there were four five-year-olds among their number while the 10-year-old Flemensfirth gelding Adamstown is also due to run again.

There were 25 Mid Antrim certified horses in the list published last week, two for horses trained in the afternoons by Gerald Quinn who works with the Colin McKeever-trained Dennison horses at Loughanmore in the mornings. Two of the four-year-olds set to carry Wilson’s black and white quartered colours are trained by Ian Ferguson who has also registered a Mid Antrim cert for Ronnie Bartlett’s British-bred Fame And Glory gelding Greco. In the same list, Jerry Cosgrave had registered three Iveagh certificates including one for Patricia Doran’s four-year-old Winged Love mare Wingandaprayer. Brenda Ross, secretary of the Mid Antrim point-to-point, has, what she termed, a small share in a September Storm three-year-old who is with Jerry and, hopefully, will run in the spring.

While the full list of sponsors hadn’t been finalised when I last spoke to Brenda, Dennison Commercials are, as usual, sponsoring the four-year-old geldings maiden while Dennison JCB will sponsor the winners of one. Co Antrim butchers K. and G. McAtamney, who have placed advertisements in the racecard in previous seasons, are sponsoring a race on this occasion.

There will be schooling after racing.