IT will not be long until the final fields are confirmed for the first of what are four of the most important days of the jumps racing calendar.

The day one line-up for the Cheltenham Festival will be known by tomorrow morning and, whilst Constitution Hill will be one notably absent ex-point-to-pointer following the decision of connections to favour a flat campaign for the two-time festival winner, the influence of the pointing sphere will still be particularly evident across those four days.

Twelve months ago, a total of 146 ex-point-to-pointers graced the hallowed turf of Prestbury Park. In doing so, they accounted for over a third of all the festival runners, excluding the two juvenile races.

That translated into 11 hard-fought victories, however the sport’s blue-ribboned prize, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, is one that has evaded ex-pointers since Minella Indo’s 2021 triumph.

In the past 20 years, War Of Attrition, Denman, Imperial Commander, Native River and the aforementioned Minella Indo are the five horses with a pointing background who have been able to etch their names onto the sport’s most coveted roll of honour, and this year there is no shortage of contenders bidding to emulate their feat.

Whilst much uncertainty still reigns over what race Fact To File will ultimately take his place in at the time of writing, last year’s Ryanair Chase winner remains the ante-post favourite for Friday’s Gold Cup, with the top three in that market all having begun their careers point-to-pointing for Wexford yards.

Fact To File made a winning debut at Bellharbour for Donnchadh Doyle, with his leading Gold Cup rivals Jango Baie and The Jukebox Man, boasting a similar background. The latter won at Turtulla for Ellen and James Doyle, whilst it was Mick Goff who saddled Jango Baie to finish second at Knockanard three years ago.

Strongest challenge

Harley Dunne’s Borris House runner-up, Haiti Couleurs, completes the ex-pointing quartet who currently feature at single-digit odds in the Gold Cup market, in what is arguably the strongest challenge for the race from this sphere for some time.

Of course, there are a further 25 races that pointing graduates will be chasing glory in, particularly at Grade 1 level. Fact To File could also feature in the Ryanair alongside Jonbon (Ellmarie Holden), whilst Pat Doyle’s former pair of Honesty Policy and Bob Olinger could face off in the Stayers Hurdle.

Within the novice hurdle division, Mighty Park has had favourable comparisons made to another pointing graduate, Faugheen, by his trainer Willie Mullins. Another ex-Donnchadh Doyle pointer to have made his way to the champion trainer and owner J.P. McManus, he is a leading contender for both the Supreme and Turners, with El Cairos (Jim O’Neill), Skylight Hustle (Colin Bowe) and Ballyfad (Luke Murphy) others for those races, whilst in the Albert Bartlett, a race that has been claimed by Irish pointers in each of the past three renewals, Spinningayarn (Sean Doyle) and Kazansky (Sam Curling), feature strongly here.

Donnchadh Doyle could also crop up in the novice chases, with Romeo Coolio among the potentials here, alongside leading Brown Advisory contenders, Final Demand and The Big Westerner, former stablemates at Matty Flynn O’Connor’s Ballycrystal Stables.

Elsewhere in Grade 1 events, Spindleberry (Mark O’Hare) and Only By Night (Gary Murphy) are leading contenders in the Mares Chase, whilst Love Sign D’Aunou (Ger Quinn), The Irish Avatar (Colin Bowe) and Keep Him Company (John Costello) could all feature in the Champion Bumper.

The latest confirmation stage ahead of next Friday’s Princess Royal Challenge Cup Hunter Chase takes place today, as the 35 initial entries begin to be whittled down to the final field, of 24.

Irish runners currently account for 14 of the 35 original acceptors, with all of the heavyweight contenders featuring, including each of the four Irish-trained runners who filled four of the first six places last year.

It is, however, worth remembering that the race has proven itself to be a challenging puzzle to get right, with the last six winners returning at starting prices of 28/1, 8/1, 66/1, 13/8, 16/1 and 66/1.

Judging by those prices, the connections of those 24 who do secure a place will go there believing they too have a chance of lifting the biggest prize for those in the point-to-point and hunter chase sphere.

THE record-breaking spell of wet weather continues to have a notable impact on action between the flags. Next Saturday’s fixture at Loughbrickland, which was due to be a first for the Iveagh’s since 2022, has been abandoned due to ground conditions.

A similar fate had already befallen the fixture at Daramona House, which was scheduled for the following afternoon. That leaves next weekend’s programme of fixtures, which was originally due to feature four point-to-points, now falling to just Ballyragget and Knockanohill.

The latest spell of heavy rain hit last Sunday at Ballycahane and, in particular, Borris House.

It is not only a credit to all involved that the fixture was completed, but a timely reminder of the challenges that the volunteer committees, in particular, have had to overcome in recent weeks and months with the prolonged period of heavy rainfall.

In many instances, fixtures have been swiftly rescheduled to ensure the number of fixtures that were completely lost has been kept to a minimum.

A combination of rescheduled fixtures and testing conditions has, however, seen field sizes take a nose-dive of late.

Since the beginning of February, nine of the 17 fixtures run have featured fewer than 40 runners as the weather has taken a toll on field sizes. The 67 runners at Borris House last Sunday proved to be the biggest meeting of 2026 thus far.

Hopefully, the long-awaited arrival of spring conditions will ease the burden that the weather has placed on all, and allow handlers to play catch-up, which will see the number of runners return to the expected levels of recent campaigns.

Personal Space earns respect

FOR the second year in a row, Gary Murphy took the wraps off an exciting prospect at Borris House, as his Personal Space (85++) dominated the nine-runner four-year-old mares’ maiden from the front. Her jumping proved to be a real asset, as she easily put her rivals under pressure to win as she pleased.

The geldings’ equivalent was divided two ways. Monzon Sport (93+) had come to tackle Profit In Pocket (0+) when that rival crashed out at the penultimate fence, leaving him to return 20 lengths clear.

In contrast, the margins were a lot tighter in division two, with just under three lengths covering the first three home, as Ballycrystal Boy (91+) overcame pecking on landing to make a winning debut.

At Ballycahane, the penultimate fence claimed challengers in both four-year-old races. Jezbel Eyes (83+) then got in deep to the last, which likely prevented her from winning by further in the mares, whilst Peckham Echo (91+) held off a closing rival in a slowly-run tactical four-runner heat.

The pace was also steady in the Lisronagh opener, which produced a bunched finish. Milady Du Plessis (81+) capitalised on the departure of Aeropress (81x), with both having held claims at the time.

Two lengths covered the first three in the geldings’ maiden, with Seanchai (92+) coming home in front, but all three look likely smart track-winning prospects.

At Farmacaffley, Blue Rebel (90+) waited until the top of the hill before coming with his challenge, which saw him finish best, as the unlucky Orchard County (89x) exited at the last.