NEVER before has the impact of the point-to-point sphere been as widespread at the Cheltenham Festival, the so-called ‘Olympics of National Hunt racing’, than what we witnessed last week.

A total of 181 horses with previous Irish point-to-point form took to the track across the four days of racing at Prestbury Park.

Most notably, when the two juvenile races are excluded, that means an unprecedented 42% of the Festival runners last week had a point-to-point background.

That is a significant jump from previous years. Rewind just 12 months ago, and that figure stood at 35% of the Cheltenham Festival runners, whilst as recently as 2021, the corresponding figure was 27%, a not insignificant number in itself, yet one that is dwarfed by this year’s return.

Given that it is the expected cream of the crop who are contesting the festival races, it is an undoubted gold label seal of approval to the quality of horses being produced from the pointing fields in recent years, and only goes to further illustrate the key role that point-to-pointing here continues to play in the wider National Hunt racing eco-system.

Winner’s enclosure

Given those big numbers, it was no surprise that former Irish point-to-pointers also featured heavily in the winner’s enclosure.

Despite the high-profile absence of Constitution Hill and the last-minute defection of Fact To File, two of the highest-rated former pointers around at present, graduates of the pointing sphere here still claimed a total of nine races across those important four days.

Arguably, the most notable of them was the Grade 1 success of The Mourne Rambler in the Champion Bumper, as it was recorded in the same season that he had contested his point-to-point, finishing second in a four-year-old maiden at Portrush last October.

By progressing into a Cheltenham Festival winner just five months later, he emulates the likes of Brindisi Breeze and Fundamentalist, who have achieved a similar feat in the past 25 years.

In addition, those nine triumphs were supplemented by a further 25 horses that finished either second or third, as there were no fewer than 11 races which may not have been won by a point-to-point graduate, but where an ex-pointer did finish second, to highlight what also could have been.

Notably, six of these were Grade 1 races over distances from two miles right up to three and a quarter miles, which highlights the incredibly diverse profile of horses that handlers are currently producing through the point-to-point sphere.

FROM a pointing perspective, one set of results from the Cheltenham Festival that will have pleased many is the performance of mares, who accounted for three of the nine successes for former point-to-pointers, courtesy of wins for Holloway Queen, White Noise and Air Of Entitlement.

The latter is now a dual Festival winner with her Martin Pipe success following on 12 months after she triumphed in the mares’ novices’ hurdle.

That particular race produced a pointing one-two in this year’s edition, with the ex-Sean Doyle-trained White Noise defeating Oldschool Outlaw.

However, just as notably, they were two of 11 mares with a point-to-point background who contested the 22-strong Grade 2. Numerically, that is the largest representation that former pointing mares have had within the race since its inception in 2016.

Prior to this year’s renewal, the average number of runners in the race with a previous point-to-point run stood at just four, highlighting the significance of those 11 runners this year.

Growing number

That increase should not come as too much of a surprise. The growing number of young mares beginning their racing careers point-to-pointing continues to rise each year. That has resulted in an increased number of mares-only four-year-old races being programmed, and a greater depth to the contests.

You only have to look at the four-year-old mares’ maiden at Monksgrange that last week’s National Hunt Chase winner, Holloway Queen, contested back in 2024.

The Jukebox Jury mare finished second on that occasion, but the first three horses home at that Wexford course have all since gone on to win blacktype races on the track for their new connections.

That is just one timely example of the increased depth in these races at present, and unsurprisingly, it is having a knock-on impact.

It was certainly evident at the Tattersalls sale after racing last week, when eight point-to-point mares realised six-figure sums at the one sale, two of whom, Palinca and Jezebel Eyes, changed hands for £400,000 each.

That all tells us that the production line of quality pointing mares looks stronger than it ever has been.

Point-to-point ratings

CONDITIONS were particularly testing at Ballyragget, a fact evident in the average time across the six races, coming in at 07:43, slowest for the season thus far, and a full 21 seconds slower than any other fixture as riders adapted to the ground.

However, it was jumping, rather than the ground, that proved to be the challenge in the four-year-old geldings’ maiden, with two of the four runners coming to grief inside the final half-mile.

That did not allow the favourite Custodium (88++) to show what he was capable of as he ultimately returned at his ease unchallenged.

The mares’ equivalent was not without its drama either. Iron Empress (81++) suffered significant trouble in running from three-out, and did well to win in the circumstances.

At Knockanohill, Uncle CC (90+) was the class act of the field, as he took control of the race quite early in the home straight, and had no problem with the climb to the line, which he mastered with a bit up his sleeve.