THERE were big celebrations at Loughbrickland last Saturday as the Co Down Staghounds marked the 70th year of racing on the Kidd family farm at Derrydrummock in Loughbrickland.

The hunt produced a special racecard which featured various race meetings they have staged across those seven decades, including pictures, historic race results and snippets from previous racecards, a real flavour of its rich history.

A number of individuals well-connected with the hunt - George Taylor, Eamon McEvoy, Jim Gibson, S.J. Martin, Johnny Watts, Tom Moore, Robin Kidd and Edwin Bryson - graced the front cover of the card, featuring a picture from the 1975 point-to-point and a number of pages from the racecard of the inaugural Loughbrickland point-to-point in 1947 were reproduced.

Of particular interest was the race conditions which accompanied the entries for the members’ race, the opening contest on that card 70 years ago. Run for the Silver Cup, the race was: “For horses, the property prior to 1st January 1947 of members of the Country Down Stag Hounds or of Officers of the Navy, Army or Air Force, stationed in Northern Ireland, who individually or regimentally have subscribed during the season 1946/47.”

Confined and adjacent maidens present day conditions are not as interesting as that 1947 members’ race at Loughbrickland which featured a number of fascinating weight allowances. If the owner or a member of the owner’s family rode the horse, they received a 7lb allowance, as too did a rider who had never ridden a winner.

There was also a 7lb weight allowance for horses bred within Co Down.

The results from the two fixtures held at the Co Down course 20 years ago, which were also included as part of the commemorative card, featured a number of well-known characters in the sport. Among those who rode on that day were current trainers Tony Martin, Warren Ewing, Brian Hamilton, Rodney Arthur, David Christie, Alan Fleming and Liam Lennon, Turf Club Clerk of the Course Paddy Graffin, Tattersalls Ireland sales director Harry Fowler, bloodstock agent Kevin Ross, Old Mill Saddlery managing director Robert Patton and Ian Buchanan, who now acts as the secretary for the Loughbrickland point-to-point.