THE racing career of Bob Olinger had a fairytale conclusion last week, when at the age of 11, he retired with a Grade 1 success in the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle. That was a fifth top-level victory for the Sholokhov gelding, who has won close to €1 million in prize money since he made a winning start to his career for Pat Doyle in a four-year-old maiden at Turtulla.
Not that anyone needed reminding of it, but last week’s events in Punchestown proved to be further evidence of the incredible quality that continues to be produced from Doyle’s Suirview academy.
Whilst it is over six and a half years since that debut success for Bob Olinger, it was only last season that Doyle saddled Le Frimeur to also make a winning start to his career. The French-bred son of Gemix won a four-year-old maiden in Nenagh, and last week, he became the latest subsequent Grade 1 winner to have passed through Doyle’s hands when he supplied British trainer Harry Derham with his initial top-level success in the Channor Real Estate Group Novices’ Hurdle.
In all, the Tipperary handler was responsible for three of the 11 Punchestown winners who had previous point-to-point form, with Even Tho hinting at a bright future when she turned the Grade 3 Weatherbys Mares Bumper into a one-horse race with her 16-length triumph under Jody Townend.
Up and coming
Given that established track record, it can be said with some certainty that we must have seen Doyle produce further future graded winners during the current point-to-point campaign, as his Tipperary stable have produced some big numbers this term.
Without the quantity to challenge for championship honours, Doyle still sits in joint second, boasting a strike rate of 48%, almost double that of any other handler in the top six, with his 19 winners having been accrued from just 40 runners.
Last week’s third Punchestown Grade 1 winner came courtesy of With Nolimit in the Race & Stay Champion Bumper. It was Jonathan Fogarty who had saddled him to make a winning debut as a four-year-old at Liscarroll last year, and the Wexford man has had a significant impact within that age group in recent years.
Since sending out his first four-year-old winner in October 2022, Fogarty has won 32 four-year-old races, with this first subsequent Grade 1 winner proving to be well-timed, with two of his latest four-year-old winners being sold for prices of €320,000 and €200,000 just 24 hours after that top-level triumph.
THE Uniquely Champion Hunter Chase really served up a thrilling conclusion last week, with a renewal befitting of it remaining the most coveted prize on the domestic hunter chase calendar.
In a repeat of their Cheltenham dual from a year earlier, Wonderwall and Its On The Line were separated by just a neck, as Rob James’ 7lb claim, which had not been a factor at Prestbury Park, proved to be key with the narrow margin.
Recently, the race has developed into a two or three-horse contest, with the principals proving to be in a different league to their opponents. However this year, it was really encouraging to see how competitive a race it proved to be. By the line, just over 10 lengths were separating Wonderwall from the mare, Dora D’or, back in sixth.
The strong Irish line-up made up for the lack of an overseas challenge, which might have been a surprise given that it was the British hunters who had the upper hand, not just with the winners at the Cheltenham and Aintree, but also the majority of the placed finishers.
One way to address that would certainly be within the prize money on offer for the race. Last week’s championship race in the division was worth €30,000 (£25,934), which does not compare favourably with the Cheltenham and Aintree equivalents. Both of those British championship races boast prize funds of £50,000, double that of Punchestown.
The Kildare course produced a record €3.6 million prize fund for last week’s festival, with several races having had their race values increased.
The Champion Hunter Chase has remained at €30,000 since it returned to that value in 2017, a level it was previously at in 2009.
Punchestown does so much right when it comes to their end-of-season festival, and hopefully, the gulf in value between the race and its Cheltenham and Aintree equivalents can begin to be addressed.
FOR the second year in a row, the champion conditional jockeys crown has been secured by a rider in their first season since switching to the track from point-to-points, with Eoin Staples proving to be a popular winner.
Despite suffering an arm injury in a fall at Punchestown last Thursday, the 22-year-old had built up enough of an advantage to hold off fellow point-to-point graduate Michael Kenneally by three winners.
Twelve months earlier, fellow Wexford rider Tiernan Power Roche had a similarly swift breakthrough when he secured the conditional jockeys’ title after deciding to turn professional following the conclusion of the 2024 point-to-point season.
This year’s title contenders, Staples and Kenneally, both decided to head inside the rails last summer, and there are likely riders currently weighing up a similar decision as the pointing season nears its conclusion.
Alan O’Sullivan is one rider who has already decided to join the paid ranks. The Lombardstown native had his first ride as a conditional jockey at Down Royal last Monday, when he teamed up with Shark Hanlon’s Stay In The Game in a handicap hurdle, with the Carlow handler also giving him the leg up at Wexford on Thursday evening.
The 22-year-old has built up a wealth of experience point-to-pointing across six seasons, having amassed 35 winners from close to 300 rides in this sphere.
It will ensure that the 2024 western champion, a title that he shared with the great Derek O’Connor, is sure to prove popular with track trainers in the coming months.
Point-to-point ratings
LUKE Murphy saddled two four-year-old maiden winners last weekend, with Chicks For Free (83++), in particular, impressing at Stowlin.
Particularly keen until getting to the front after the fourth fence, it was only when being allowed to increase the tempo heading into the second half of the race that she began to settle better, and that pace will prove to be a big asset over shorter trips.
Drumlee Jet (92++) finished alone in the first division of the geldings equivalent, and things happened very easily for him here. In division two, Grand Souverain (90+) was already getting on top when quicker at the last, which sealed victory.
Tactic (81+) didn’t aid her cause by jumping left at Ballindenisk, which could be worth factoring in when she progresses to the track, with division two winner Lake Nagambie (83+) a class above her rivals as she won going away in an eye-catching introduction.
In division one of the geldings’ maiden, Maxi Twist (89+) defeated two rivals who had finished together at Tullaherin to give context to the race, whilst The High Stool (90+) stepped forward from a non-completion on debut.
Bunched finishes were common at Dawstown, so the speed that North Tipp (89+) produced to extract himself from the pack was taking.
Works For Me (87+) was foot-perfect when it counted before asserting on the run-in, whilst at Toombridge, Mirage D’Alene (87+) handled the home bend significantly better than the two horses who chased him home, which proved to be key.