AS a jockey, only Barry O’Neill, Tony Martin and Jamie Codd have ridden more winners around Castletown-Geoghegan than Gordon Elliott, and since making the transition to the trainers’ ranks, his successful relationship with the Westmeath venue has continued.

Silver Birch, Elliott’s first big winner as a trainer when scoring in the 2017 Aintree Grand National, had kickstarted what proved to be his memorable campaign by finishing third in the autumn open at Castletown-Geoghegan back in 2006.

Seventeen years later and The Bosses Oscar made a triumphant return to the pointing fields in the corresponding race to provide the Cullentra Stables team with their third successive victory in the race.

At the age of eight, the son of Oscar is quite a young addition to the open division, but having failed to win over fences in five attempts under rules, this will surely have been a confidence boosting victory for the former Cheltenham Festival runner-up.

Different riders

It is a notable feature that Elliott’s three back-to-back winners in the novice riders’ open at the fixture have each been ridden by three different riders who were each achieving their respective first point-to-point victories.

In 2021, the victory of Out Sam was a first success for Carl Millar, who has since turned professional and continues to ride for Elliott under rules, while 12 months ago it is was the turn of Luke Galligan, who had the assistance of the former Grade 1 winner Hardline to gain his breakthrough success.

For Finn Brickley, his success aboard The Bosses Oscar may have been a first in the pointing sphere, but it followed on from riding the winner of a Tramore bumper a month and a half earlier.

First rides

Those three results are another example of these novice rider open races achieving exactly what they were created for, with last Sunday’s race alone featuring no fewer than four riders who were all having their first ride in point-to-points.

Being able to do this on experienced former track horses is typically a sound introduction into race riding, and with a further six such races to come across the next nine weeks of the autumn term, hopefully they too will feature similar strong numbers of new additions into the riding ranks in the sphere.

FORMER rider Shauna Larkin is set to saddle her first point-to-point runner in a new role as a handler in the coming weeks.

The Galway native, who rode six winners in the pointing fields, striking up a particularly successful relationship aboard the Saddlers’ Hall gelding Rosc Catha throughout the autumn 2016 term, also featured as part of the Irish team that travelled to Kingston Blount in England, to ride in the now defunct Anglo-Irish Challenge.

“I grew up in a big hunting family, my father used to ride in point-to-points and my mother is the point-to-point secretary for the East Galway hunt,” she explained.

“I have finished with the race-riding now, I didn’t renew my licence this year, but the end goal was to always go training. My cousin Eoin trained just down the road from us at home, I used to ride them out every day and my father had a couple at home too. This is a great opportunity now to make a start at that with a couple of nice horses.”

Three horses

Larkin currently has three horses with hunter certificates, a pair of four-year-olds in Hummus and Justmadeit, alongside an unraced five-year-old Mr Bezi.

“There are four or five point-to-pointers to run and hopefully I will have my first runner in the next fortnight – there will be two or three ready to go,” she added.

“I am training out of Charlie Swan’s yard in Cloughjordan. He has a six-furlong hill gallop, there is a four-furlong round gallop, a big indoor school, outdoor arena, walker, lunge pen – absolutely everything that we need.”

OWNERS and handlers here are being asked to mark May 18th 2024 in their diaries, as the Pembrokeshire hunt have issued an open invitation to them to run horses at their 2024 fixture at Trecoed Farm in Wales.

Taking place on the Saturday prior to the Goffs UK May Sale in Doncaster, organisers are hoping that Irish connections bringing horses to that sale, might plan a pit stop at their course at Trecoed Farm in Sleddau, Fishguard, which is conveniently located just five minutes from the Stena Line ferry port in Fishguard which has direct daily sailings from Rosslare.

The hunt are currently in talks with Stena Line Europe in an effort to agree travel incentives for shipping horses over to Wales and will also have stabling available for the whole weekend.

Further details on the programme of races and the prize money that will be offered are set to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Point-to-point ratings

IT is fair to say that Brave Fortune (94++) set a strong benchmark for the weeks ahead in the opening four-year-old maiden at Castletown-Geoghegan last Sunday with a dominant wide-margin victory. Having made his debut at Punchestown six months earlier, the Soldier Of Fortune gelding was having his first start in this sphere in what was a strongly-run contest.

However, it was not a pace that posed him any problems, as he was able to quicken smartly off that gallop from the penultimate fence, and swiftly had victory wrapped up upon entering the home straight.

The corresponding race 12 months ago was won by the subsequent Grade 2 winner Rock My Way, and this early evidence of a 15-length victory which was recorded in a time 18 seconds quicker than the average on the card, would suggest that Brave Fortune should also look up to contesting blacktype contests.

Depth

The five-year-old equivalent for geldings may not have contained a great deal of depth, but Agent Tequila (87+) certainly looks to have taken a step forward during the summer break.

He had failed to finish four of his five runs last term, but he looked a completely different prospect here. Overcoming a bad error early on the final circuit to win by 14 lengths, it points to a horse that has stepped forward, while the older maiden looks to have been won by an above-average winner for the division in Lecale Way (88+).

He made a winning debut to defeat the eye-catching stable debutant Beau’s Candle, who looks a maiden winner in waiting for the weeks ahead.

The Bosses Oscar (104+) is a 138-rated chaser that was once sent off as the favourite for the 2021 Paddy Power Chase.

The undoubted class act of the field, he won with plenty in hand on his return to this sphere, and is capable of more with his rating here restricted by the runner-up, who himself ran to a career best mark.