WE are certainly right in the middle of the busiest of weekends in the spring term. Over 550 entries were made for last Sunday’s three fixtures, and the entry numbers remain just as healthy heading into this weekend’s action, with 470 entries having been made for tomorrow’s three fixtures at Castletown-Geoghegan, Dromahane and Tullaherin.

The revenues generated by race entries are a key income stream for the volunteer committees that run point-to-point fixtures, and they will be minded to put together a six-race programme that appeals strongly to the current horse population in order to maximise their financial returns.

In this regard, one race category that is certainly proving to be quite challenging is the mares’ open division. Poor entries, leading to small fields and, in many cases, uncompetitive races, have unfortunately been the theme of these races in recent years.

There have been 32 such races run at point-to-point fixtures since the beginning of 2022, and they have produced an average field size of just under five runners, with only two of the races generating eight or more runners in that period. Worryingly, that average drops to just four runners for the past 12 months.

Much of this revolves around the lack of track-winning mares switching to the pointing sphere as geldings do in strong numbers. Of the 13 individual horses to have contested a mares’ open this season, only two currently have a track success on their CV, with one of them, D’ora Dor, securing her success in a hunter chase after running in a mares’ open.

Additionally, over half of these races have been won by odds-on favourites, illustrating their often uncompetitive nature, a fact borne out by six of the 13 horses this season having each only won one maiden point-to-point.

This season, The Great Unknown, who is a leading contender for champion point-to-point horse honours, and Dora D’or, have illustrated that the better mares can successfully compete against, and beat geldings, in open lightweight races, without the need for specific mares-only races at open level. This is particularly true in the spring, when opportunities are more plentiful, and these spaces in the race programme could better serve additional winners of two and winners of three races.

Alternative avenue

Perhaps the evolving track programme for mares will, in time, lead to an increased number of track-winning mares switching to the pointing sphere to swell the numbers in the category, but in a country where breeding remains such a key element, the second career away from the racecourse for track-winning race mares is always going to make that difficult.

If the mares’ open races are to continue in their current form, the programme is most certainly requiring one obvious improvement. There is little benefit in running a mares’ open race at Loughanmore on Easter Saturday, when there is a mares’ maiden hunter chase at Cork 48 hours later, as the pool of horses is just too limited.

From the regulator’s perspective, there is logic to including the mares’ open at a two-day fixture, as the smaller returns from it can be better compensated by the committee’s 13 other races across the weekend, which is commendable. However, there is simply not the horse population to fill those two races so close to each other, and to be fair to the connections of those horses, they do deserve a staggered programme, which would allow them to take in both races.

This year, there were just four horses entered at Loughanmore, three of whom were double-entered in the Cork hunter chase. Luckily, three horses did contest the race at the Antrim venue, avoiding any fears of a potential walkover, but it continues a trend of very poor numbers for the race.

Four runners contested the 2025 edition, whilst there were three runners in 2023, and the 2022 edition was a disappointing match contest.

That highlights the clear issue with the position of that particular race in the calendar and, while it may be most visible in this instance, it reflects a wider, unsustainable pattern within the mares’ open lightweight programme unless it is revamped to better align with the limited pool of mares available.

Mifa d’Airy a mare to follow

GRADE 1 winners Honeysuckle and Spindleberry are among two of the subsequent top-level winning mares to have won around Dromahane as a four-year-old.

In the years to come, perhaps the name Mifa d’Airy (86++) will be added to that list after she blitzed the field for a particularly dominant success on debut.

Always travelling within her ease, she took control of the race from the back of the second-last fence to cross the line 16 lengths clear of her nearest opponent, in what, visually, could not have been a more impressive start to her career, earning her the highest rating of the season thus far for a four-year-old mare. She has been bought by Dan Skelton for £435,000.

The margins were a lot tighter in the geldings’ equivalent 30 minutes later. Six lengths covered the first five horses home, as Chanson Du Jury (92+) just prevailed in a race which will likely produce several subsequent track winners, and there were a number of eye-catchers in behind.

It was a similarly tight finish to the Tattersalls opener. All Noise (82+) had her jumping exposed when the pace of the race increased, as she completely lost her position at a crucial point. Considering that, she did very well to get up for a debut success, and has to be considered as value for quite a bit more than the margin of just under a length.

The Paddy Turley stable doubled up in the first division of the four-year-old geldings’ maiden with Less Said (92+), although Bend The Rules (90+) looked the likeliest of winners approaching the home bend, only to be outstayed. The pair pulled 16 lengths clear, and are both notable prospects.

It was all very easy for Down Jones Road (94++) in the second division. He produced a striking turn of foot approaching the straight that none of his rivals could live with, in a decisive move that sealed his victory. He looks like a genuine graded prospect on this early evidence.

At Rathcannon, Double Annie (83++) was more than a class above her rivals, as she dominated the four-year-old mares’ maiden. In the geldings’ maiden, Aladin Du Rheu (93+) came from off the pace under a well-judged ride, which allowed him to finish out the race strongly, lengthening clear from the last. He looks to have plenty of gears for the track.