THE picturesque yard at Skehanagh Stables outside Cashel, home to points’ handler Sam Curling and his wife Zoe, was opened to visitors last Saturday morning ahead of the new campaign.

Ted Walsh Jr and Nina Carberry, Jamie Codd, Derek O’Connor and Davy Russell, current and prospective owners, locals and point-to-point enthusiasts, all gathered at the home to Curling’s training operation since 2010.

Facilities surrounding the 45-stable main yard, include a seven-furlong sand and woodchip straight gallop, a two-and-a-half-furlong sand circle gallop, two-furlong schooling strip, two walkers, a sand ring for loose schooling, lunge ring and paddocks stretched across 100 acres of grassland.

Stable star Longhouse Music is among the 90 winning graduates of the yard. Curling’s winners were a career best 32 last season and he finished the season in second place on the handler’s leaderboard with a 35% strike rate.