IT was fitting that, on the day that the Ballinagore Harriers staged their first point-to-point, it was Denis Murphy who saddled a treble. Murphy’s grandfather was the Harriers’ first huntsman.

The handler’s treble was kickstarted by the victory of the even-money favourite Beatthebullet.

Bouncing back from a disappointing fourth at Aghabullogue seven days earlier, the Lingstown maiden winner enjoyed the good underfoot conditions for Jamie Codd, as he got the better of Colin Bowe’s mare Ballymorris Rose by four lengths.

“It was very important that we got a winner today because the Ballinagores were founded by my grandfather and he hunted from our homeplace, so we would have been very disappointed if we didn’t get a winner today,” said Murphy. He added that the Alan Harte-owned six-year-old who is set to remain pointing for the season.

Murphy and Codd were quickly back in the winner’s enclosure when Born In Borris (2/1 favourite), a horse bred by Morgan Kavanagh, on whose land the Borris House point-to-point takes place, showed her rivals a clean pair of heels from the penultimate fence to win as she pleased, returning 12 lengths clear of the previously placed Maybe Its Time.

Bought for just €3,000 by the winning rider at the Tattersalls Ireland August Sale, she now looks a shrewd purchase as she got her head in front at just the second time of asking.

“I don’t have her that long, so she wasn’t fully ready for Borris. We said we would just give her a quick spin around for the experience that day and she improved a lot for it.

“She picked up very nicely there today and could be a nice horse. I’m not sure if she will be sold or go for a mares’ winner-of-one,” reported the winning handler, in whose colours the six-year-old recorded her facile success.

Four of the five runners for the confined maiden were saddled by the Doyle brothers, Sean, Donnchadh and Cormac. However, it was the one non-Monbeg runner in the field, Breakeven (6/4-3/1), who prevailed to complete the Murphy-Codd treble.

Beaten by just 12 lengths by the subsequent £375,000 seller Lets Go Champ at Bartlemy in the spring, the giant-striding son of Scorpion hails from a family that Murphy knows well, having sent out his siblings Big Penny and Our Bubba to win between the flags. Codd is similarly well-acquainted with the family, as he was aboard the five-year-old’s dam when she won her maiden at Kilsheelan for Pat Hughes.

“The grandfather was looking down on us today!” said a delighted Murphy following the four-length defeat of The Silent Trainer.

“He is 17.1hh and is only maturing now. We are taking our time with him and he will go for a winner-of-one race in three or four weeks.”

COLIN Motherway enjoyed success in the Pat Coffey colours during his riding career which yielded no fewer than 212 winners, and The Bees Knees (6-12/1), the first horse that the Cork native saddled for Coffey, returned a taking winner of the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.

A final-fence faller when destined to be placed behind Ellmarie Holden’s £400,000 seller Sir Gerhard at Boulta in November, the Oscar gelding, a close relation of Rock On Ruby, picked up smartly from the penultimate fence to comfortably defeat the €70,000 store purchase Tommy’s Oscar by five lengths.

“We have always liked him at home. He wasn’t 100% the first day when he ran in Lisronagh and then he was running a nice race in Boulta before he just knuckled over at the last when he was going to be a nice third behind Ellmarie Holden’s good horse.

“That was a good race, so we were very confident coming here,” said Motherway of the five-year-old who provided rider Brian Lawless with his fourth winner of the campaign.

Lesser is greater

He was one of two Ballycrystal winners to be offered at today’s Tattersalls Cheltenham January Sale, having been joined on the boat across the Irish Sea by Lesser (7-8/1), a horse who was greeted by scenes of great celebration when he returned victorious in the older geldings’ maiden.

A final homebred foal for the O’Donnell family out of their Grade 2 Liverpool Hurdle-third Aine Dubh, the six-year-old made the best possible start to his career when providing 18-year-old Bagenalstown native Conor Blake with his first victory. “He is a good horse. He got a little setback last year and came out of it well, so he has been working well since. We thought we might have had him ready for before Christmas, but it just didn’t happen,” said owner-handler Kevin O’Donnell who, although having just two horses in training, has now sent out both to win, with this six-length victory following the success of Righttimerightplace at Naas a month earlier.

Too The Future (10-14/1) outran her starting price as she returned one of the biggest priced winners of the season in the opening five-year-old mares’ maiden.

The well-supported favourite Feuille De Lune set a strong tempo from the outset, but it proved to be a gallop that she could not sustain and, once she relented, Michael Murphy’s daughter of Mahler, a half-sister of Terence O’Brien’s 140-rated chaser Lakemilan, returned two lengths clear of Delightfantastic to continue the good season of Murphy and rider Tiernan Power.

Horse to follow

Walking The Walk (J.P. Berry): the son of Imperial Monarch gave a good account of himself from the front and should be capable of winning this season.

Excellent day’s racing

BALLINAGORE point-to-point secretary Rose Cummins reported that the hunt committee was delighted with how the inaugural fixture went. They had every reason to be happy with the day’s events, with the fixture drawing a big crowd, and many people commenting on the excellent atmosphere around the course throughout the afternoon.