Colin Bowe: “It’s good trade, but there’s a lot of money that needs to be lined up at the start in order to get those one or two horses at the big prices. If you get there, it is good money, though. If you don’t have the top one, maybe it’s a money-back type of job.”

Sean Doyle: “Overall, it was a good season, even if there were difficulties with the weather drying up. I think the hunt committees pulled together well and did a good job with the tracks. On a personal front, we had a great season and I’m very happy with what we did. I think we produced some lovely horses who I hope we’ll be hearing a lot more about going forward.”

Sam Curling: “I’d view it as a very good year. The horses have sold well and I’d say a lot of people got on nicely. There were also plenty of point-to-pointers winning on the track through the season, and that’s always a positive. I think the quality of horse running in a point-to-point is getting stronger every year. A lot of nice ones are going this route all the time.”

David Christie: “I feel this season has been very difficult, really down to the ground mostly. You had quite a dry autumn, then a period where the ground was okay and then it got very dry very early. I’d say a lot of the four-year-old and five-year-old men were getting it tough enough. Then there was a feast of horses at the last minute. I think the hunts have done an unbelievable job to water the ground enough to leave it safe enough for the young horses to run. If it hadn’t been for them, it would have been very tough for those boys. The weather impacted everybody. Quite a few horses didn’t run during a limited season. It was tricky.”

Denis Murphy: “It’s tough going, but the season has been a good one. Running in a maiden point-to-point every weekend, you’re coming away feeling that running in a maiden hurdle would be easier! That speaks to the quality of horse involved in point-to-points at the moment. It’s getting stronger year on year.”

Colin Bowe: “I’ll buy something similar to last year, maybe a little bit less. I had cut back already from two years ago anyway. There are a lot of lads out there with lots of heads still over the doors, though. I expect it’ll be steady without any fireworks.”

Sean Doyle: “I think they’ll continue to be strong for the popular type of horse - there’ll be plenty of demand for those. I’d imagine we’ll be at a similar number to previous years. In terms of trends to come from the season for going forward, it looks like the horses by Crystal Ocean and Poet’s Word are very easy to train and popular. We’ll definitely be hunting for more of them.”

Sam Curling: “I’d say we’ll keep it to something like the same as last year. The trade will be strong again for the nice ones, but we’ll try our best to get as many as we can. There are plenty of nice young stallions out there coming through, Poet’s Word and Crystal Ocean being the obvious ones.”

David Christie: “I think the store sales will be good because I feel the English market is good. I thought that horses sold very well in Doncaster last week - you had to pay plenty of money if you wanted to buy a nice horse and there seemed to be a lot of buyers over there. That was mostly the English trade. The Irish store men bought very few this time at Doncaster, partly because of the Euro-Sterling exchange rate and partly because of all the paperwork and cost involved in getting these horses back to Ireland. I’d imagine the Derby Sale and Arkle Sale will be very good.”

Denis Murphy: “I’ll probably buy around the same - we definitely won’t be giving up yet! My impression of things at Doncaster was that things went well over there, the averages were up compared to 12 months earlier, and I do think the trade got stronger as the year went on. It wasn’t the same before Christmas as it turned out more recently. The Goffs sale at Punchestown was extremely strong.”

Colin Bowe: “In terms of finding good riders for schooling, I’m conscious that we need a good next generation of people coming through. I’m lucky with the staff I have but, overall, it’s not always completely easy to find good lads for schooling. You need those capable people to help bring on young horses from early on.”

Sean Doyle: “Our day-to-day costs are soaring. They’re a challenge in every way, all the way down to the price of diesel, but there’s no getting away from the fact that the cost of producing young horses is getting more expensive every year. That’s our biggest challenge.”

Sam Curling: “It’s probably the cost of running everything. Running costs are massive for the business, they’re getting very hard. Thankfully, I’m very lucky to have brilliant staff.”

David Christie: “Running costs and labour. Between insurance, the cost of feed and everything else, it’s gotten to the stage where it’s very difficult now to make the thing make sense.”

Denis Murphy: “Like everyone, costs and staff are the standout points that you have to be aware of. The cost of everything is gone so high. We’re not too bad with staff at the moment. If you don’t go over the top with your numbers, it’s definitely a help with your need for manpower on the ground.”

Colin Bowe: “Overall, I’m pretty happy. The majority of hunts made an effort with managing the ground during a dry spell.”

Sean Doyle: “I’d love to find a couple of new, big tracks. Farming has changed an awful lot and tracks are getting scarcer and scarcer. You’d love it if more people could volunteer to open up ground for new tracks.”

Sam Curling: “Not particularly, I feel it’s in a good place and we’ve seen good crowds everywhere through the season. I think the hunts did a very good job this year when the ground has been so dry. They did their best during times that were very hard on them. A lot of places produced very safe ground, which is hard in a field. They deserve plenty of recognition for that.”

David Christie: “I think prize money can always be better. Because the industry is so big, I think that can get a bit overlooked at times.”

Denis Murphy: “I’d be a believer that we’re very lucky to have all the people we have involved in organising these point-to-points as it stands. It’s hard to get people to commit to anything on a voluntary basis and they do a great job.”

Colin Bowe: “I’ll put my toe in, but I won’t be going head first into it. With my setup and gallop, I’m not entirely sure it’d be suiting a horse to have them ready a year younger.”

Sean Doyle: “We won’t be a big supporter of them; it wouldn’t be down our road. We think point-to-points are the best education for young horses and won’t be swaying from that.”

Sam Curling: “I think they’re a good idea and I wouldn’t mind supporting them. It’ll be interesting to see what way they shape up, but they sound like a positive thing to me. I might try to find a couple of horses to fit the series, but with the system we have and the point-to-pointing going well, we’ll stick with that.”

David Christie: “I don’t really have anything suitable for them and, as a result, I probably just don’t have enough input into it to have a strong opinion on the topic.”

Denis Murphy: “It has the potential to take off, but I think you’d want your three-year-olds in now if you were targeting it this season, schooling away. I haven’t even got them broken yet, so it’ll all happen a bit soon for my horses. It’s not going to be for me when they won’t be forward enough. I tend to have my horses only coming in the spring, around March time. If I had horses for it, it’d be different.”

Colin Bowe: “I think I sold some potentially real good ones this year, so I’ll put forward a few different names. Grangeclare Park, by Walk In The Park, looks an exciting horse after he won on his debut at Curraghmore last month. Red Rubio, a four-year-old by Sumbal, also won last month for us on debut at Tattersalls and looks promising.

I like a Tunis four-year-old we won with at Monksgrange in March called Lemmy Caution and a Walk In The Park filly called Fairy Park,who won first time up at Dromahane last month. I’ll also give a mention to Shotgun Rider, a Diamond Boy four-year-old who won at Necarne a few weeks ago, an Order Of St George four-year-old called Midtown Manhattan [won at Ballysteen in April] and Cristal d’Estruval, a winner from Lisronagh in February.

Even though he didn’t manage to win, I’d keep an eye out for a Poet’s Word four-year-old we finished second with at Dromahane last month called The Irish Avatar. He’ll be a nice horse going forward.”

Sean Doyle: I’m looking forward to seeing what a horse called Hold The Serve does for Olly Murphy. He’s a five-year-old by Jukebox Jury, who won at Borris House in December on his only start. Another one to keep an eye on is Hydration Station, an Idaho gelding who has gone to Paul Nicholls after winning at Castlelands in March.

Sam Curling: “We sold a very nice horse to Willie Mullins this spring called Arcadian Emperor, a four-year-old by Kamsin. He was sold privately after winning at Lisronagh in March. I hope he’ll go on to be a good one for Willie and connections.”

David Christie: “I think My Life Be Like is a horse to look forward to. He won three point-to-points in the spring before it didn’t work out for him in a maiden hunter chase at Down Royal earlier this month. My main focus is obviously the hunter chases and I think he has the potential to go right to the top.”

Denis Murphy: “I like a Jet Away horse who won a maiden first time up for us at Oldtown in February called Jet Of Stars. He’s since been bought by Lucinda Russell and is a nice prospect.”

Colin Bowe: “I’ll give a mention to two of my own men on the riding front. Bertie Finn is an amateur who has been riding winners for us and I think he’s one to look out for. Eoin Stapleshad his best season this year too and I think he’ll make a very good professional as he turns that direction.”

Sean Doyle: “Jamie Scallan is coming off the back of his best season yet and I think he’s a rider who has improved an awful lot. I reckon he could get better again in the coming years.”

Sam Curling: “I think David Doyleis someone doing everything right as a young rider at the moment. He’s been improving all the time, has a lovely, quiet way of riding and is after having a good year. I think he’s a young man going places.”

David Christie: “From a rider point of view, I’d have David Doyle as a fabulous young fella coming through. He’s a nice rider with a lot of positive ways about him. As for a sire, there mightn’t be very many of them, but I’m a big fan of Tirwanako. I think he’s a terrific sire and he stamps them.”

Denis Murphy: “I’m sweet on Poet’s Word as a sire. I’ve had a small few of them by him and I like what I’ve seen. One of them ran and won [a four-year-old called Taurus Bay at Comea in February], and I sold another two privately without a run. I have another couple for the fall who hopefully seem nice too. They look to be quite versatile horses."