IT is over two and a half years since the number of declarations necessitated four divides on the one card, but that proved to be the case on Sunday at Borris House when 10 races were required to accommodate no fewer than 110 runners.

Blackhall, who won the ninth race on the marathon card, would certainly not have the typical profile of a three-mile point-to-pointer; however the six-year-old managed to defy an 899-day absence to win a division of the older maiden for Barry Stone and Ellen Doyle.

What is so notable about this chesnut gelding, is that he is the only son of Caspar Netscher to have made it to the track following a short-lived stud career for the former Group 2 winner.

Owned by Charles Wentworth, whose wife Zorka’s colours have been carried in point-to-points here by both Call It Magic and Centurian, it was reported that Caspar Netscher produced just three foals during his brief spell in the breeding sheds before his return to racing, one of which was Blackhall.

Blackhall’s maternal pedigree also offered few clues that a winning future in point-to-points lay ahead, with his half-sister Coolnagree twice finishing second in listed contests over seven furlongs, and half-brother Holiday Magic winning nine times between seven furlongs and a mile.

While his dam Win Cash, who is a half-sister to the Group 1-winning sprinter Lucky Nine, did finish placed in a juvenile hurdle during her short racing career, Blackhall is the first of her six off-spring that have graced competitive action to be sent over obstacles.

Blackhall himself had gone unsold at the flat foal sales for €120,000, and he too began his racing career on the level, contesting a two-year-old maiden over seven furlongs at Gowran Park, a race that was won by the subsequent Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes victor Intricately.

While the second phase of Caspar Netscher’s racing career has come to an end following his appearance in the 2015 Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot, the sprinter’s story continues.

THE most valuable point-to-point race of 2020 is now just eight days away with next Sunday’s second point-to-point of the autumn term for the Ballymacad Foxhounds at Oldcastle, set to play host to the INHSC Winners Final.

Worth €5,000, the race is part of an overall effort to increase the number of older horses in training for point-to-points, and the conditions of the race have been set to provide this valuable opportunity for those horses who have followed the traditional point-to-point route and not achieved any success under rules.

Typically the race which is open to horses aged six or older, is an incentive for older maiden winners in the current season to be kept in training with their connections, However as last season’s race could not take place due to the racing shutdown in the spring, the conditions of this year’s race have been widened to include winners from both last season and the current autumn campaign.

To be eligible, horses cannot have won a race before the start of last season on October 5th 2019, and since then must then have finished in the first four in a point-to-point without winning a race under rules.

This will be the second running of the race, which was first held at Dromahane in April 2019, when it was won by Seamus Spillane’s nine-year-old Wrong Direction who beat the now 146-rated hurdler Decor Irlandais.

A widened window of eligibility for this year’s race should boost the turnout from the nine horses that contested the 2019 race in search of the €3,500 first prize. Entries for the race close on Tuesday at 12 noon.

Don’t miss out on buying winning points’ mares

THE final round of pre-Christmas point-to-point sales kick off next week with the Tattersalls Cheltenham December Sale on Thursday December 10th, a sale which has been relocated to the Tattersalls headquarters at Park Paddocks in Newmarket.

This will be swiftly followed a week later by the Goffs UK December point-to-point sale at Yorton Farm on Thursday December 17th.

Performances in recent weeks from the likes of Shattered Love and Honeysuckle in particular are a measure of the quality of mares that can be sourced from maidens between the flags at present, and vendors at the upcoming sales will be hoping for a greater set of results in the sales ring for their mares than what was experienced last month.

Disappointingly, of the 15 mares that were offered with recent pointing form to their names at last month’s two sales, eight failed to find new buyers in the ring, with the top-priced mare being the Dromahane winner Kilbarry Leader, who was ultimately sold for £75,000 having initially failed to meet her reserve at £85,000 in the ring.

Cheltenham mares’ chase

Buoyed by an increase programme of races under rules for mares, including a first race over fences confined to mares at this season’s Cheltenham Festival, the number of mares, particularly in four-year-old races, has grown significantly, increasing the depth within these races, with mares coming close to account for a third of all hunter certificates.

This month’s lots could well offer notable value for owners if the recent sales levels continue.