THE victory of Marinero at Ballingarry last Sunday was a 300th in the point-to-point sphere for handler David Christie.

The former accomplished point-to-point rider has grown a training operation, which initially began when brought in to oversee the introduction of thoroughbreds at CAFRE College in Enniskillen, to then become one of the sport’s most talented horsemen.

Operating out of his Derrylin base alongside his son David Jr and with the support of his loyal base of owners, who are certainly classed as true pointing enthusiasts, he has had some of the sport’s most prolific equine performers in recent decades under his care.

Following his milestone success, Christie discusses some of the significant moments of his training career.

OUT of all the horses that I have ever had You Must Know Me was the best. He could have won a Cheltenham Foxhunters and was the real deal.

For that reason the moment that he lost his life after winning the hunter chase at Leopardstown was a very defining moment for me.

I will be forever grateful to Enda Bolger for ringing me the next day and getting me back onto my feet. It was very tough and took a long time to come back from.

I had taken my eyes off the horse pulling up - I was watching the race on the screen in the parade ring and I turned away and hadn’t realised what had happened until somebody came and told me.

Now I watch every horse the whole way from when they pull up and walk back in and that is because of that day. I didn’t see Barry (O’Neill) afterwards because I was tending to the horse, but still to this day we have never spoken about it. It was too sore for both of us.

HE was best point-to-pointer that I have had. He did not have a lot of scope, so he was a bit slower over fences on the track, but in a point-to-point he was exceptional.

Kevin Power said to me after getting off him in Summerhill one day that he was a 120 horse on the racecourse, but around a bale he was a 140+ horse.

He had legs like glass and I only ever had him 85% fit. Derek O’Connor only ever won on him by a couple of lengths - he could have won by 30 lengths but he always looked after him. Derek probably extended his career by two seasons just by never asking him a serious question when he didn’t need to.

I remember after winning at Armagh in very testing ground going to take on Gordon Elliott’s Backstage at Oldcastle. He just strolled away from him that day and showed what an exceptional point-to-point horse he was.

It takes some horse to win six races three seasons in a row and he changed the rules in point-to-pointing.

I bought Arctic Copper after he had pulled up in a three-runner race at Punchestown. Denis O’Regan said to me one day that he was a horse who could be second in a Gold Cup and second in a donkey derby – he gave me heart failure every time he ran. It wasn’t until he crossed the line that you knew he would win. He was a great character of a horse because he would fire you off every day of the week, even as an older horse.

You had to have a clever way of riding him and Claire MacMahon was brilliant on him. Claire wasn’t riding for many people at one stage and I saw her in a couple of races and thought that she was very good over a fence.

I’ve always preferred a horse person to a jockey and I asked her one day at the sales if she would ride for me the following season. She was riding 18 to 20 winners a season for me at one stage, it was colossal. I think what she was doing at that time was really under appreciated.

NOT Before Eight was one of my favourites of all time because he was a desperately tricky horse.

He stopped one day in a three-runner race at Loughrea, trotted for about 100 yards and then went on to win the race. That’s how tricky he was but I loved him and he was very kind.

I had him entered in a hunter chase in Downpatrick but at the last minute I had no jockey. I rang up HRI and asked who was riding in the bumper that didn’t have a ride in the hunter chase. They called out a few names and then came to Barry’s.

I had seen him riding a bit and thought he was okay and said that I’ll have him. They went and beat Tammys Hill and the rest is history as they say.

We hardly ever discuss a race, we just seem to just click and it has been a very fruitful partnership. He seems to know what I want and we just seem to roll from there.

I have won a lot of the big hunter chases here but I have always come up short in the big ones at Cheltenham and Aintree. For me and how I operate that is the Gold Cup. It is what drives me at this stage of my career. I like winners, but it is seeing if I can get to Cheltenham or Aintree for the Foxhunters which drives me now.

I feel like some of those good sportsmen that have a lot of success but never win that big one and I have that feeling that it might just be beyond me but I’ll keep trying.

I have taken a new approach in the last couple of years and bought cheapish younger horses that have problems and nursed them back. They have turned out to be very good, so I have a nice team of young horses at the moment.