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COULD he be in contention for the championship this year?’ That was the question that Declan Phelan posed to racegoers in his commentary as Derek O’Connor partnered Garry Aherne’s High Kick Kev to win the five-year-old geldings’ maiden in Tallow last Sunday.

Significantly, the victory saw him draw level with Barry O’Neill at the top of the riders’ leaderboard. However, by the end of the card, O’Connor had ridden a four-timer, completing a weekend where he rode five winners from five rides, which saw him edge into a slender lead at the summit of the standings.

Not since 2016 has O’Connor sat in that position at this corresponding point of the season. On that occasion, an injury at Quakerstown ruled him out of contending within the season’s title chase, but the prospect of another potential challenge materialising from the sport’s most successful rider has emerged somewhat unexpectedly.

That is because in the 10 years since securing his 11th national title back in 2015, it has been the names Jamie Codd, Barry O’Neill and Rob James that have been engraved on the overall title, as O’Connor has steadily reduced his riding commitments.

That was whittled right back to just 79 point-to-point rides last season, his lowest since 2001 when the two Covid-interrupted campaigns are excluded, a significant drop from his 393 rides in 2011.

Reversing the trend

That trend has reversed somewhat this time around. Having only ridden in 29 races by this point last year, he has almost ridden in twice as many contests this season, despite securing those rides from a pool of handlers that is almost exactly the same as 2025.

The reason for that significant increase appears to lie in his prominent position within Sam Curling’s team of riders, for whom he has already had 31 rides for this season. Significantly, for his position at the top of the rider’s leaderboard, the pair are currently operating at a 42% strike rate when combining this season.

O’Connor himself supplied two of his own five weekend winners, as his training operation once again has proven itself to be particularly influential in the results of four-year-old maiden races in the month of February.

Few yards have as much presence in that age group at this time of the year, with O’Connor’s stable saddling more than double the number of runners of any other stable across the opening six races in the new four-year-old maiden term this month. That continues the trend from February 2025, when he saddled 10 more four-year-old runners than any other handler.

With eight more four-year-old entries for this weekend’s action, including two at Knockanard tomorrow, where he will seek to win that particular four-year-old maiden for the third straight year, it is clear that, whether it is as a rider or handler, O’Connor looks set to play a significant role in the weeks to come.

DECLAN Lavery became the second rider this year to join the exclusive club of riders to have recorded 100 point-to-point victories, when he combined with the record-breaking Winged Leader for a dominant success in the Kirkistown open last Saturday.

The Downpatrick native had registered his first success in the sphere in 2011 at Taylorstown, and 14 years later, he became the 68th rider to reach that milestone, following hot on the heels of Darragh Allen at Dungarvan a fortnight earlier.

The pair had been on the cusp of their respective milestones for some time, remaining locked on the 99-winner mark for frustratingly longer than they may have preferred. Allen certainly hasn’t looked back since crossing the 100-winner mark.

He has now ridden five winners from his last seven rides in the point-to-point sphere, a red-hot strike rate that has been boosted further inside the rails.

On the track, his last two rides have been winners, with Cold Old Fire victorious in a maiden hunter chase at Thurles on January 29th, whilst he returned to that same Tipperary course seven days later to team up with his regular ally Terence O’Brien, as they claimed the bumper on that card with Leonard Vallis.

Point-to-point ratings

IT is fair to say that Brian Lawless took the new four-year-old maiden division up a gear last Sunday when he unleashed County Prospect (96++) to make an impressive winning debut in the Punchestown opener.

His six-figure price tag from the store sales will always bring with it a greater expectation, but even that was surpassed with the performance that he produced, dominating with what appeared to be particular ease.

Having jumped to the front along the back straight, his fencing was a real asset, as he had his rivals toiling before the home bend, until ironically, he got in deep to the last. Only for that final leap, he arguably could have won eased down by further than the 12-length margin. He is a very exciting prospect at this early stage of his career.

At Comea, Catchem Black (94++) dictated a relatively steady tempo, which had resulted in the field remaining very tightly bunched entering the final half-mile. Considering that, the fact that he crossed the line with a 16-length winning margin, with the first three home being covered by 42 lengths, illustrates the pressure that he put on his rivals across those final three fences.

The two-and-a-half-mile maiden in Ballinaboola turned into a sprint finish, with Mister Boum (92++) having too much speed for his rivals to win snugly.

His stablemate, Power Of Authority, was throwing down a serious challenge to Onehellofalaugh (92+) at Tallow until his jumping failed him over the final three fences. That does not take away from the debut victor, who picked up well having been perfectly positioned throughout, whilst Metal D’Ainay (90++) was a 20-length winner of a small-field Kirkistown maiden.