THIS afternoon’s card at Peppards Castle will host the first four-year-old auction maiden of the new season, just under seven years after the creation of this new category was first announced.
Confined to horses that were purchased at a recognised store sale for €25,000 or less, the races were unveiled as one of the key initiatives ahead of the 2019 spring point-to-point season, and a total of 37 races have now been staged, beginning with the inaugural auction race at Kirkistown in March 2019, which was won by Colin Bowe’s Heartbreak Kid.
Announcing their introduction at the time, the press release stated the ‘auction race initiative will cater for the least expensive horses purchased at the various recognised sales in 2018, which is most welcome and hopefully will be fully supported by all handlers’.
The four races staged in that 2019 campaign proved successful. Three of the four race winners went on to achieve ratings on the track in the 140s, whilst, commercially, there were also very strong returns for connections.
Two race winners from the quartet of auction races held in 2019 were offered for sale at public auction following their victories, with both realising six-figure sums. The €15,000 store purchase Bobhopeornohope was sold for £105,000 after his Dromahane win, whilst Gabbys Cross produced an even bigger payday for his connections. Their €5,000 store investment produced a €170,000 sale after his victory in an auction maiden at Monksgrange.
Mixed fortunes
Since then, it is fair to say that the fortunes have been somewhat mixed.
Tahmuras became the first subsequent Grade 1 winner to emerge from a four-year-old auction maiden when he landed the Tolworth Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown in early 2023, just over 20 months after he had won his auction maiden at Ballingarry for Donnchadh Doyle.
The number of auction races programmed peaked in the 2021/22 season when eight races were run, but this was reduced to six last season, and it is expected to remain at that number this season.
Disappointingly, from the six races programmed last season, just one managed to attract more than nine declarations, with two five-runner races and a further brace of six-runner races representing the majority of those held in the category last season.
At a time of booming four-year-old numbers within the sphere, that is an underwhelming outcome. If we accept that they failed to hit the mark last season based on those disappointing numbers, what can be done to reverse their fortunes?
Changes
Well, earlier this month, Horse Racing Ireland announced a series of changes to the auction hurdle series under rules, with the stated aim of opening the races ‘up to a greater population of horses and provide support to National Hunt breeders in Ireland’.
From next season, foals and yearlings bought at qualifying public sales for €15,000 will be included in those auction hurdles, whilst horses that have not previously been offered for sale, were unsold in the ring, or sold privately outside of the ring, will also become eligible if the median auction price of the stallion is below the set level for the auction race.
Presently, there is scarcely a four-year-old auction maiden in the pointing sphere where horses that were sold privately outside of the ring are not removed from the race at the entry stage.
Opening up the conditions in a similar manner to the auction hurdle series would increase the population of horses that are eligible to compete in them without compromising the core concept of the races.
After all, the more competitive that the races can be with bigger fields, the better the spectacle is for punters and racegoers trackside, whilst at the same time, enhancing the resale value of the runners in the race for their owners and handlers.
CURRAGHMORE plays host to the first fixture of the new season on the Cork and Waterford circuit tomorrow afternoon, and the 19-strong entry for the open lightweight on the card is sure to be a big draw.
These open races in the autumn term have become particularly strong in recent years. This is the time of the year when the ex-track horses begin to appear with the intentions of qualifying for the prestigious hunter chases on the calendar.
At the same time, the increasing number of open races that are confined to novice riders, has had the knock-on effect of funnelling those often better quality horses into the remaining open races that don’t have restrictions on the riders that can compete in the race.
The net result is an entry like the one you have in Curraghmore tomorrow, which is headlined by the former four-time Grade 1 winner Fakir D’Oudairies, who could have his first start since joining Enda Bolger.
If taking his chance tomorrow, he could line up against the Aintree Foxhunters third, Lifetime Ambition, Big Interest, who won the Joseph O’Reilly Memorial Hunter Chase by 18 lengths, Kerry National winner Desertmore House, Red Rum winner Dancing On My Own, Fountain House and Lisleigh Lad, who both won hunter chases last season, plus several other capable track recruits.
It will be interesting just how many of the heavyweights stand their ground, because opportunities in this category are not plentiful. Despite being only four weeks into the autumn season, there are only four more similar open races without any restrictions programmed up to Christmas.
FOLLOWING the previously announced cancellation of the West Waterford fixture at Boulta, a number of alterations have been announced to the autumn programme, which ensures that there is a full complement of meetings in the pre-Christmas term.
The Clonmult/Dungourney fixture at Boulta, which was originally scheduled for Saturday, December 6th, moves forward to fill the West Waterford date of Saturday, November 22nd. This allows the Duhallow Kanturk committee to run an additional fixture at Dromahane on Saturday, December 6th.
Point-to-point ratings
DENIS MURPHY’S strong start to the new season continued last weekend when Eskylady (83+) was a second winner for the Ballyboy Stables team in the four-year-old mares’ maiden division within six days.
She made her debut in a Loughanmore maiden that was run to a very strong gallop, and consequently, the patient approach saw her finish strongly to win comfortably.
The pace was more sedate in the geldings’ equivalent on the card, and it saw Golden Heart (92+) overcome stumbling on the home bend to run out a game winner in a race where the form could be worth following.
At Umma House, Golden Heart’s handler Jonathan Fogarty was unlucky not to pick up the four-year-old mares’ maiden with Take Some More (79x). Her final-fence departure handed victory to Dutton Law (77+).
Taranis Dubh (90+) made his move off the home bend and rallied on the run-in to hold off the eye-catching fast-finisher Nikolavs Otto, in the four-year-old geldings’ maiden there, whilst at Tinahely, Finisk Pride (91+) made amends for a luckless debut by powering clear from two out, to win snugly by seven lengths.