A BRAND new course in Co Laois features as one of the highlights from a 72-strong fixture list for the spring 2026 campaign.

Stradbally Hall has been the home of the Laois Foxhounds point-to-point for the past quarter of a century, typically staging two fixtures in April and May. However, following concerns over the level of grass cover at that venue, a new course has been identified.

That is Ballygogue House, a 50-acre site, that is home to the hunt’s long-standing point-to-point secretary David Lalor, just outside Ballacolla, and close to the Kilkenny and Tipperary county borders.

Home to the All-Ireland Ploughing Championships on three occasions between 1995 and 2002, the venue will feature a point-to-point on Saturday, February 21st, as the committee has moved it forward in the calendar.

“My land would be dry land, which might not suit a later date; that’s why we have moved forward to February,” Lalor explained.

Preparing

“It drains very well, so you could nearly guarantee that it would be able to go ahead at that time of the year. We already have the finishing straight marked off, so the preparations are well underway.

“It is a slightly undulating course with a small pull-up to the finish. It will be a mile of circuit, and all contained within the one field. They will race right-handed with five fences on a circuit. It is two long straights, with a gentle curve at one end, and a bit of a straight at the top end. It would be pear-shaped.”

A total of 72 fixtures is one fewer than had been scheduled for 2025, with the North Kerry Harriers fixture at Tralee, which was ultimately cancelled last spring, absent for 2026.

The spring term will commence at Dromahane on December 30th, and run across the following 21 weekends until its conclusion with a double-header on May 24th at Ballyingarry and Inchydoney.

THE programme of hunter chases for the first four months of 2026 has also been published, with 15 such races scheduled up to the Champion Hunter Chase at the Punchestown Festival on May 1st.

There is a broadly similar schedule to previous years, with the marquee races in the category in advance of that Punchestown feature, taking place at Naas on February 7th, Gowran Park on March 7th, and Fairyhouse on April 4th.

The only notable change concerns the maiden hunter chase at Thurles. Since 2021, this race has typically been run in early March, with last season’s race on March 6th. For 2026, it has been brought forward to a new slot at the end of January.

A pair of point-to-point bumpers also feature within this provisional summary, and they now include a new criterion affecting who can ride in the race.

They are now restricted to 7lb claiming qualified riders or qualified riders who have ridden in at least 10 point-to-points since the start of the 2024/25 season.

Had that criterion been applied to last Tuesday’s rained-off point-to-point bumper in Fairyhouse, John Gleeson would have been the only one of the eight jockeys ineligible, as he has only ridden in three point-to-point races within the selected timespan.

In order to be in with a chance of repeating his point-to-point bumper double from Easter Monday 2025, Gleeson will be required to ride in seven point-to-points before March 31st, the deadline for all other non-7lb claiming qualified riders to have secured their 10 point-to-point rides.

THE father and son combination of Mick and Harry Goff successfully combined for their latest victory together when Red Acres Max impressed in the four-year-old geldings’ maiden at Dromahane on Sunday.

The Wexford handler is one of the many operators in that county to successfully produce young horses through the pointing sphere.

In more recent times, it has been Goff’s son Harry who has been entrusted with riding so many of his winners. That may not be too unusual for a father to support his son. However, what makes the combination all the more notable is Harry’s youth and relative inexperience.

Harry just turned 19 in March, and only rode his first winner in the sphere at Monksgrange in March 2024. Yet since then, he has comfortably slotted into the role of stable number one.

That is no mean feat for an operation that has run between 33 and 49 individual horses in each of the last four seasons, the vast majority of whom would be contesting the ultra-competitive younger-age maiden races.

Handling the pressure

That would be expected to bring with it a degree of pressure, yet the younger Goff has belied his youth, delivering the goods.

All nine of Goff’s career successes in the saddle thus far have come aboard horses aged four or five, which in itself is quite a notable feat that few before him will have achieved by this stage in their burgeoning riding career.

Last Sunday’s victory in Dromahane was his fourth success in a four-year-old maiden, two of which have come this season following the victory of Loch Ness Pineau at Curraghmore two weeks earlier. Before that, Harry had already steered the subsequent £320,000 seller Clondaw Park to victory on debut at Lisronagh back in February.

That shows not only the level of faith that has been placed in him by his father to be entrusted with these big opportunities, but also how he has certainly repaid that faith handsomely.

Point-to-point ratings

A BUSY weekend of four-year-old maiden races saw six races in the category, and it was Dawn Of Light (82++) who recorded the biggest winning margin with her 20-length victory in the four-year-old mares’ maiden at Quakerstown.

This was a strongly run contest, and she maintained her gallop to the line. This is a course which can so often favour prominent tactics, and that proved to be the case throughout the card, including in the geldings’ equivalent, when Kat Mate Du Brivet (89+) slipped the field climbing to the top of the hill on the final circuit in a well-executed ride.

The stiffer test of Knockmullen House produced a bunched finish in the four-year-old mares’ maiden, where just under five lengths covered the first five finishers. Queens Charm (79+) was the only newcomer amongst that quintet, for which she has to be credited, and she will be entitled to progress onwards from it.

Three horses proved themselves to be a class above their nine other rivals when pulling clear off the home bend in the four-year-old geldings’ maiden.

The trio were almost in line approaching the final fence, from where Jardin De Tunis (92+), who had shown notable signs of greenness at the start, and had to be led in, displayed real toughness to assert on the run-in. The trio are all likely nice types for the track going forward.

Emiko (80+) claimed a dramatic four-year-old mares’ maiden at Dromahane. To her credit, she was picking up when two of the principals exited at consecutive fences in the home straight, whilst it was the final fence that provided the drama in the geldings’ maiden.

Stick To The Board (92x) was disputing the advantage with Red Acres Max (92+) when exiting, and both are likely smart prospects.