On Thursday, February 16th, 2017 the record for an Irish point-to-pointer was set in the Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham Sale ring. It took £480,000 to secure Flemenshill from Wilson Dennison having won a point-to-point in a field 20 minutes drive from Dublin Airport. No runner from the race had ever run previously in public, ensuring the race could not be assessed with any level of knowledge about the depth of form, and being the only race over two and a half miles on the day, it was not even comparable on time to any other race.

The question must be asked – why? Why did Tom Malone, Alan and Ann Potts and Colin Tizzard decide to invest into an Irish point-to-pointer with such confidence?

The answer surely lies in the laws of probability. A recent study by Rory O’Brien makes for fascinating reading and begins to explain why a leading owner/trainer/agent combination may have seen this source of talent to be the one they should invest into at such a level.

Firstly O’Brien notes that 85% of all Grade 1 winners last season had run in a race by the age of four. No surprise as most of the best racehorses of all time have raced by the age of four, even in previous generations.

Dawn Run, Best Mate, Faugheen, Imperial Commander, Florida Pearl, Douvan, Vautour, Cue Card, Hurricane Fly, Desert Orchid, Red Rum had all raced by the age of four. Even Arkle, under the care of Tom ‘not known for rushing his horses’ Dreaper, raced as a four-year-old.

Whilst for some time there was a view that the French-bred horse is far better at adapting to such a rigorous regime as a youngster, the accompanying table shows an interesting trend. On the right is a list of where each horse that went on to win a Grade 1 race last season began their career.

It is clear that the dominant source of Grade 1 winners last season were four-year-olds from Irish point to-points.

In many instances the specifics of data available may not be known to all but a sense of the data generally is. So a purchaser may not be able to list exactly how many Irish point-to-point winners go on to win on the track each season but they understand that every time they switch on racing on TV there is a continuous link back to points.

In the same way we know Ruby Walsh is top jockey but cannot tell you exactly how many winners he has this season.

Surprised as many may have been that any horse could be sold for such a lofty sum following one difficult to assess run, there is clearly a feeling within the industry that these races contain notable depth. They continually produce high levels of success and most importantly, can be trusted to produce results.

The Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham Sale is a select sale of form or ready-to-run horses featuring horses sourced from different disciplines who often go on to perform at a high level.

Lord Windermere was a breeze-up graduate who went on to win the Gold Cup, juvenile hurdle winner Tiger Roll went on to win a Triumph Hurdle in the same season as being sold at Cheltenham and bumper graduate Cheltenian went on to win the Cheltenham bumper. As impressive as that cast is, there is no getting away from the relentless success of Irish pointers which saw €1,980,000 of the total turnover of €2,562,000 coming via Irish pointers or 77% of the total.

So the reality is that the single most available, potentially high class, sound, willing and ready to go animal in racing at the moment, is the Irish point-to-pointer.

The market is well aware of this and is bidding accordingly. The information available ensures the hard luck stories are being outscored by success stories such as Poli Roi, Redhotfillypeppers, Samcro and Getabird who all topped their respective select sales in the last 12 months and remain as a quartet, unbeaten for top owners. And of course Finian’s Oscar, who saw the hammer come down for £250,000 has enhanced the brand further with his heroics of hitting Grade 1 level in about 70 days from his pointing success for the same connections who secured Flemenshill.