IT was good to see Sligo-born jockey Derek Fox partner his first winner since his latest return from injury when the Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore-trained Spadestep (1/4) landed the opening novices’ hurdle at Hexham last Friday week.

The dual Grand National-winning jockey, who fractured a vertebra, collarbone and rib when unseated at Sedgefield in March, was on the mark again two days later at Kelso where, for the same connections, he partnered Conman John (4/11) to victory in another opening novices’ hurdle.

Also over jumps across the water, Caoilin Quinn partnered a winner last Friday week at Fontwell while, on the level, Patsy Cosgrave fared the best with a single win at Wolverhampton on Monday being sandwiched between doubles at the same track on Saturday and another at Southwell on Tuesday.

Oisin Orr recorded a double at Redcar on Sunday and scored once at Southwell on Tuesday and Darragh Keenan visited the winner’s enclosure at Chantilly last Thursday week and those at Wolverhampton on Monday and at Brighton on Tuesday.

Doomben

At home, Dylan Browne McMonagle landed a treble at Bellewstown last Thursday week before landing the opening race at Longchamp on Saturday when, earlier in the day, Martin Harley landed a winner at Doomben in Queensland, Australia.

Over jumps, Simon Torrens was on the mark at Gowran last Friday week and at Galway on Tuesday, while Sam Ewing also partnered a winner at Gowran.

On the breeding front, there were wins on Monday for the Ronald Brown-bred five-year-old gelding The Expensive One (Harzand - Thuringe, by Turgeon) at Stratford and for the Kieran Magee-bred five-year-old gelding Watchful Protector (Mount Nelson - Shannon Waters, by Flemensfirth) at Tipperary.

At Navan’s flat fixture on Wednesday, the six-furlong handicap was won by the Siobhan Tolerton-owned and bred seven-year-old mare Step Back In Time (Footstepsinthesand - Gift Of Time, by Cadeaux Genereux).

There were two Northern-owned winning favourites at Tipperary on Sunday. Willie Mullins sent out Gaucher to land the two-mile Grade 3 Horse and Jockey Hotel Hurdle for Rose Boyd and Marie Armstrong, while the colours of Peter FitzGerald were carried to victory in the bumper on the Henry de Bromhead-trained La Cote Fleurie.

THE 2025/2026 point-to-point season kicked off last Saturday with the Mid Antrim meeting at Toomebridge where it was great to see that, as at Castletown-Geoghegan the following afternoon, all six races were won by Irish-bred horses.

None locally unfortunately but the campaign started with doubles for the trainer/rider combinations of Paddy Turley and Deckie Lavery plus Gerald Quinn and Dara McGill, who also had two horses narrowly beaten into second, one by a head.

There were better results on the breeding front at Castletown-Geoghegan, where the winners of two was landed by the Robert Armstrong-owned, Thomas Campbell Massey-bred eight-year-old gelding Yewtree Hill (Kalanisi - Yewtree Girl, by Gamut) while the younger geldings’ maiden went to the Sean McElroy-bred six-year-old Escapefromreality (Soldier Of Fortune - Drumviredy, by Flemensfirth).

Donegal native Luke Turner landed the five and six-year-old mares’ maiden at this Westmeath Foxhounds’ fixture on board the Workforce bay Rebel Reba.

YESTERDAY, Downpatrick held its final meeting of 2025, so racing fans can now concentrate on the upcoming BetVictor Winter Festival at Down Royal on Friday, October 31st and Saturday, November 1st.

Through Flash Collognes, Keith Watson is the only local trainer to have a horse entered in the weekend’s featured Grade 1 BetVictor Champion Chase, but owner Philip Polly’s Affordale Fury heads the list of 13 geldings.

As well as great racing, this year’s Festival will see an expanded Ladies’ Day competition with fabulous prizes, additional bars and a live DJ set to keep the party going after the last race.

PERUSING the Property Plus section of the Business Post last Sunday, I couldn’t help but see the advertorial for Ely Lodge, Enniskillen, the 209-acre estate on the shores of Lower Lough Erne, which is on the market with Savills for £5 million.

I don’t have that kind of money - and I certainly don’t have the €365 million for the superyacht I’d like - but I read on and saw that one of the selling points was the estate’s proximity to St Angelo Airport which, just a mile away, is ‘capable of accommodating private aircraft’.

That reference had me remembering the Fermanagh Harriers’ point-to-points held there back in the day. The final fixture took place there, I think, in 1998 - on Saturday, March 14th - when the opening adjacent hunts’ race was won by the Warren Ewing-ridden High Tone.

The five and six-year-old geldings’ maiden and the five-year-old and upward mares’ maiden were divided.

Tony Martin won a leg of each with John Bright and Nigel Toal claiming the other halves. John Berry and Greg Harford were also on the mark, while the ladies’ lightweight went the way of Diane Duffy (Herb Superb), who was followed home by Suzy Barkley (Mr Flowers), Lillian Doyle (Slaney Standard) and Susan Vance (Voldi).

IF you haven’t the funds to buy an estate, perhaps you could consider a painting, such as that of Sir Edward O’Brien in hunting costume which is coming up at Adam’s two-day Country House Collections Sale on Monday and Tuesday at Townley Hall, Tallanstown, Co Louth.

Coming up as Lot 560, the painting, which has a guide price of €50,000 to €80,000, is attributed to James Seymour. Again, I spotted this in the Business Post where the Fine Arts correspondent Philip Carton drew readers’ attention to the catalogue notes. ‘O’Brien was renowned for his extravagance and passion for horse racing, traits that ultimately undermined the fortune so carefully amassed by his grandfather’.

There are bound to be more racing/equestrian paintings in the sale but, with 825 lots catalogued, I haven’t the patience to go through them. If you are interested, the catalogues are online while the viewing times today and tomorrow are from 11am to 5pm with Monday’s session starting an hour earlier.

NO doubt most of the young locally-trained horses who win early season point-to-points will be consigned to the Tattersalls Cheltenham November Sale but, before that, 17 horses belonging to the recently-retired Corinthian David Maxwell are coming up at a complete dispersal sale at the track on Friday week, October 24th.

The consignment of geldings range in age from four (three) to 11 (two), French-breds outnumber Irish-breds by 10 to five, while there are two British-breds up for sale.

Sixteen sires are represented with No Risk At All siring both the 2021 bay Risky Obsession (Lot 6) and the year-older chesnut El Cairos (Lot 10). The lots are catalogued alphabetically under their dams names.