MICK Goff has made a bright start to the new point-to-point season, with two winners from his first six runners, but the success of Redacresmiriam at Umma House last Sunday carried particular significance for his Moate Stables operation.

The four-year-old became the third member of the same family that the Wexford handler has sent out to win a maiden at that age between the flags.

That represents a particularly noteworthy record for their dam, Redacresruby. The unraced Presenting mare has so far produced just three runners, all of whom began their careers with Goff, and each is now a four-year-old maiden winner.

Producing three winners from as many runners would be a fine achievement for any broodmare, but for all three to have shown the precocity to win four-year-old maidens, having been prepared by the same handler, makes her record all the more unusual.

It started with Georgie

Red Acres Georgie was the first of the trio to appear in 2024. She was still in front of the subsequent Champion Bumper winner Bambino Fever when falling at the second-last in Stowlin on debut.

Any disappointment from that departure proved short-lived. Just a fortnight later, the Order Of St George mare made amends in emphatic fashion when running out a 14-length winner at Ballindenisk. Now trained by Tony Mullins, she recently finished second in a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse.

Last season it was the turn of her Maxios-sired half-brother, Red Acres Max, who made a winning debut for Goff in a four-year-old maiden at Dromahane.

That performance ensured he became the most expensive of the family thus far when sold to Tom Malone for £240,000 at the Goffs UK Coral Gold Cup Sale. He has already added further substance to the family’s record by winning a bumper at Carlisle for Jamie Snowden.

Snowden outlined the regard in which he holds the now five-year-old during a recent stable tour, expressing the hope that Red Acres Max could develop into a horse capable of contesting the Grade 1 Challow Hurdle at Newbury over Christmas as he embarks on his novice hurdle campaign.

Hat-trick

Redacresmiriam’s victory at Umma House has now completed the hat-trick for Redacresruby’s first three runners and strengthened what is developing into a highly productive association between the family and Goff’s yard.

The sequence also reflects particularly well on Goff. Bringing any young horse to the point of winning a four-year-old maiden is no small achievement, but to do so with three siblings in successive seasons shows that he clearly knows how to get the best from this particular family.

It is an impressive return from a mare who was bought for the Frisbys for just €7,500 at Part II of the Derby Sale in 2017.

There could yet be plenty more to come from the family. Redacresruby has produced three foals since Redacresmiriam: a three-year-old colt by Eagles By Day, a two-year-old filly by the same sire and a yearling filly by Santiago.

Given what Goff has already achieved with the mare’s first three runners, it would be no surprise if he was particularly keen to ensure that some of those younger siblings also found their way to his yard.

Open divison highlights pointing stars

ONE of the more interesting features of the opening three weekends of the season has been the profile of the horses winning in the open lightweight division.

Four open races have been staged across the first seven fixtures, and each has been won by a horse already very familiar to regular followers of the pointing scene.

Lifetime Ambition began the sequence at Castletown-Geoghegan, providing Jack Doyle with one half of a double at the Westmeath fixture. Now an 11-year-old, he has won seven open races across the past three seasons and remains a particularly dependable performer in the division.

Magic Tricks followed at Umma House last Sunday. The 10-year-old was recording his second open success since joining Paurick O’Connor, having joined the division last season.

The other two winners have been Clough Clouds at Portrush for Ger Quinn and My Life Be Like at Tinahely for David Christie.

New pattern emerging

At this early point of the campaign, it would not have been unusual to see horses arriving from the track make an immediate impact in open company. Those runners often bring a greater level of experience and form under rules into the division, but so far this season, that profile of horse has yet to make it to the number one spot in the winner’s enclosure.

Lifetime Ambition and Magic Tricks were both open winners last season, while Clough Clouds and My Life Be Like progressed from lower grades during the same campaign. That makes the breakthrough victories of the latter pair particularly interesting.

Both are six-year-olds who began their careers in maiden point-to-points before progressing into winners’ company and, most recently, earning their first victories at open level.

Rather than switching into the division following successful careers on the track, they have worked their way through the ranks between the flags.

Competitive entries

The picture could begin to change this weekend, when opportunities in the division step up considerably. After just four open races across the first three weekends, each of this weekend’s three fixtures will stage an open race, and the entries are as competitive as would be expected for the time of year.

That is especially true of tomorrow’s contest at Curraghmore, while attention will also centre on the expected return of Hearts And Spades.

The reigning champion point-to-point horse holds entries at both Curraghmore and Tattersalls, where he is one of 13 entered in the open. Still only a seven-year-old, his return will add further interest to a division that has so far seen a new generation of open performers emerge from within the pointing ranks.

Whether that pattern continues as more former track performers appear will be worth following over the coming weeks.

Ratings of the week

THERE were no fewer than five four-year-old maiden races last weekend, kickstarted by the facile success of Wee Anna (83+). This four-year-old mares’ maiden at Loughanmore was run at a very strong tempo, and when one of the pacesetters fell three out while clear, Wee Anna was able to reap the reward of patient tactics to finish best of all.

The steadier tempo in the geldings’ equivalent may have ensured seven horses were tightly grouped two-out, but three of them were able to quicken clear off the home bend, with I Told Him That (91+) ultimately winning snugly at the line.

At Umma House, Redacresmiriam (84+) had the best form in the book from her debut effort in Monksgrange, and she has certainly improved in the seven months since her initial effort, as she jumped particularly well to dominate a well-run race from the front of the field.

Sunset Carousel (90++) also successfully employed positive tactics in the geldings’ equivalent 30 minutes later. He had far too many gears for his rivals, and despite being very long at the last, he survived the error, with the manner in which he picked up after it suggesting that he still had plenty left in the tank. He was more than a class above his rivals here.

The four-year-old maiden at Tinahely was run at a very steady pace, which resulted in Right Jack (88+) coming out on top of a bunched finish.