IT can be a challenge for a rider to make a significant impact in the pointing sphere without the backing of a leading yard behind them; however, Finny Maguire is certainly doing his best to defy that theory this season.

The Kildare-based Cork native was, for a long time, one of those qualified riders more associated with racing on the track, rather than for his exploits in the point-to-point fields.

In fact, up until the 2021/22 season, with the exception of 16 rides in the Covid-curtailed 2019/20 campaign, Maguire had not had more than a handful of appearances a season between the flags.

That has changed more recently. Despite closing in on a century of winners on the track, he has simultaneously carved out something of a reputation as a go-to rider for point-to-point handlers when opportunities arise, no more so than this season.

A double across the opening two races at Oldtown last Saturday has ensured that this has already become his most successful season point-to-pointing, with seven winners.

Different trainers

What is most notable, perhaps, is the fact that each of those seven winners this season has come for seven different handlers - namely Jonathan Fogarty, Martin Brassil, Robert Tector, Alex Ott, Nicky Stokes, Tony Martin and Pat Doyle.

The last named was calling upon his services for the first time in a point-to-point when Rubyball won the four-year-old maiden at the Dublin course, a success which could well open further doors in this sphere.

Alongside this, Maguire has managed to successfully switch between both codes, enjoying this greater level of pointing success, whilst at the same time maintaining his links with the track, where he has won both a Grade 2 bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival and €100,000 Grand National Trial at Punchestown this month alone.

Far from needing the backing of one large stable, Maguire is swiftly reshaping his status in the pointing fields.

A BALLYGOGUE House double saw Rob James become just the eighth rider to reach the 400 point-to-point winners milestone last Saturday, a feat that he has achieved at the age of 32.

It only took the Wexford native five years to reach his first century, following his initial success at Tinahely in 2012.

Since then, he has rocketed through subsequent milestone winners, all the while combining his race-riding with producing and training horses of his own, in more recent years.

Fittingly, it was indeed one of his own horses, New Grange, that brought him to the 399-winner mark in the Ballygogue House opener, before he was seen to particularly good effect aboard the Pat Doyle-trained Found It in the following five-year-old mares’ maiden to reach number 400. The exaggerated waiting tactics that he carried out had the desired effect, as he joined Derek O’Connor, Jamie Codd, Barry O’Neill, John Thomas McNamara, Mikey O’Connor, Enda Bolger and Willie Rooney within the 400-winner club.

For good measure, James added to his weekend haul 24 hours later in the Kildorrery opener, with that 401st career success in the sphere aboard Jim O’Neill’s Foxy In The Park, moving him alongside Willie Rooney in seventh position on the all-time list of winners.

This all comes in a season which has already seen Sixmilebridge become the first subsequent Grade 1 winner that he has trained as a point-to-pointer, with his recent Scilly Isles success at Sandown, suggesting there are many more milestones to follow.

RECENT months will have been filled with frustration for both Jack Hendrick and Sophie Carter; however, both will be hoping that their fortunes are now set to change after they recorded their respective first wins back following injury lay-offs last weekend.

Hendrick was cruelly sidelined on the eve of the current campaign getting underway, when a first-fence fall at Listowel, just seven days ahead of the season-opening fixture in Toomebridge, left the talented 26-year-old nursing a broken humerus and fractured shoulder joint.

Following a three-month recovery, the Mayglass native, who last year rode his 100th point-to-point winner, made a return to race-riding at Ballycrystal in mid-January, and a belated first success of the campaign followed courtesy of Denis Murphy’s Kiwi De Cotte in the Tinahely finale on Sunday.

The 2024 joint-eastern champion has proven to be a big asset to both Murphy and Cormac Doyle, and he will be hoping to make up for lost time, particularly as the four-year-old maiden term intensifies in the weeks to come.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Sophie Carter combined with the Mags Mullins-trained Lets Go Champ to land the open in Oldtown.

The eight-length victory was recorded not far off a year since Carter’s 2025 season was curtailed by a broken collarbone in a fall at Nenagh; an injury woe that was further compounded by an ankle fracture from a schooling fall in the autumn.

With hunter chase objectives, Lets Go Champ could get the former Ladies’ Derby-winning rider’s season back on track.

Point-to-point ratings

COLIN Bowe had intended to introduce his 2025 sales-topper Cristal d’Estruval in the four-year-old maiden at the February fixture in Tinahely last year. Wet weather may have intervened 12 months ago; however, the reigning champion did get the opportunity to unleash another exciting recruit in this year’s renewal, when Onetingfornuttin (93++) dismissed his six rivals with the minimum of fuss.

Patiently ridden, once brought into the contest at the second-last fence, he kicked clear in a matter of strides to win by 12 lengths, and the manner in which he galloped beyond the line, up the hill, and into the parade ring afterwards, was a clear indication of what remained in the tank.

The Oldtown opener was unsurprisingly quite tactical with just four runners, and the quartet were only covered by little over four lengths at the end of the two and a half miles.

Encouragingly, Rubyball did lengthen his advantage in the dying strides, going away at the line.

In contrast, with 11 runners, the Ballygogue House four-year-old maiden not only produced the biggest field for the age division thus far in 2026, but it also provided the biggest test.

With the exception of a brief point at the end of the opening circuit when the pace steadied, this was run at a good gallop for the conditions and, as a result, few were able to get into a challenging position.

Cleverfox (0+) had breezed past New Grange (86+) around the home bend before dramatically exiting the race in between the final two fences whilst looking the likely winner. That handed victory to the long-time leader.

Meanwhile, the opening four-year-old mares’ maiden of the year at Kildorrery, saw Foxy In The Park (82++) win comfortably, in what, visually, was an impressive success.