THE arrival of February is always eagerly awaited within point-to-point circles, as it heralds the first opportunity for producers to take the covers off their latest crop of four-year-olds.

Drawing comparisons to the pre-season testing in Formula 1 that heightens anticipation, as teams get a first opportunity to see where their new cars, which have been developed extensively behind closed doors, stack up against their competitors on the track.

Schooling grounds around the country have afforded handlers the same opportunity. as the final preparations are made ahead of the action kicking off for real tomorrow.

For some, there are already reports of horses who have gone well in schooling bumpers, or are jumping like seasoned campaigners in circulation.

Schooling grounds around the country have afforded handlers the same opportunity. For some, the dream has already fallen at the first hurdle, but for others, the expectations have only been heightened, as the final preparations are made ahead of the action kicking off for real tomorrow.

Unsurprisingly, reports of horses who have gone well in schooling bumpers, or are jumping like seasoned campaigners, are already well in circulation. Connections are entitled to have such high hopes.

On the track, point-to-point graduates are doing the business, flying the flag for the sport with an all-time record number of races having been won.

November and December both saw a record number of races going the way of horses who had started their careers in Irish point-to-points, and if the money traded at the summer store sales is anything to judge the anticipated quality of runners that we may see, the 2014 foal crop could be the best yet.

STORE MARKET

In an ever increasing display of the growing importance that the point-to-point producers hold within the store market, no fewer than four point-to-point powerhouses feature among the top 10 buyers at the Derby Sale.

Monbeg Stables led the way for the point-to-pointers, trailing behind only Highflyer Bloodstock in June, after giving €1.27 million for 33 horses at an average price of €38,424.

The Monbeg team were joined by Colin Bowe’s Milestone Stables, Alan Harte Bloodstock and Denis Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables within that top 10 list. The latter named trio appearing among the top 10 for the first time at that sale.

Milestone Stables signed for 11 lots at an average price of €45,182, Alan Harte, whose colours have been carried between the flags in recent seasons by the likes of Poli Roi, King Of Kilmeague and Warthog, signed for six lots at an average price of €65,833, while for Murphy’s Ballyboy Stables, nine horses were secured for an average price of €42,222.

The pattern of big spending continued across all Irish store sales. At the Land Rover Sale, Monbeg Stables once again were second only to Highflyer Bloodstock in the top 10 spending list, when buying 13 horses for an average of €32,615, and they headed the table at the August National Hunt Sale.

Buoyed by the prices achieved for point-to-pointers at the sales last season, they will not be alone.

No fewer than 197 four-year-olds held a valid hunter certificate ahead of entries closing for this weekend’s racing on Tuesday.

At the same point 12 months ago, that number stood at 177, marking a rise of over 11% before the first four-year-old maiden of the year has even taken place.

Denis Murphy has been quick to hunter cert his latest recruits. With 28 four-year-olds holding a hunter cert, he has the biggest representation for one handler at this point. The Wexford handler is closely followed by Pat Doyle who has 23, Colin Bowe with 18 and Colin McKeever with 16.

Gigginstown House Stud have enjoyed such great success with the horses that they have brought through the point-to-point ranks, from their Grand National winner Rule The World and Irish Grand National winners Rogue Angel and Thunder And Roses, to their Irish Champion Hurdle victor, Petit Mouchoir.

A fresh crop of 30 four-year-olds, who all hold Westmeath Foxhounds hunter certificates, will look to follow that successful path for them.

The 30 are split evenly between Pat Doyle and Eddie Hales, and contain a host of horses who feature in the top 10 most expensive lots at the store sales. The pick of the grouping is the Stowaway gelding, Fury Road, who cost €205,000 out of the Derby Sale and is now in training with Doyle.

Hales, meanwhile, has the joint-top lots from the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale, in Adulterated and Epson Du Houx.

Of those with notable pedigrees, Accidental Rebel, who was bought by Henry de Bromhead for a price of £78,000 at Doncaster, is a full-brother to his reigning champion chaser Special Tiara, while Thunder Down Under, a €120,000 buy from the Land Rover Sale, is a half-brother to Cool Getaway. He was signed for by Gordon Elliott, who also has that half-brother, a Tattersalls point winner, under his care.

Incredibly, 21 of the 30 Gigginstown four-year-olds cost at least €70,000 and they add considerable depth to any point-to-point that they appear in, which not only provides potential buyers looking in at the race with extra confidence, but can also add significant value to horses that run against them.

Last year’s Ballinaboola four-year-old maiden is the perfect example of this. The Ashleigh Murphy-trained Frozen Flame, a son of the Coolagown Stud’s stallion Frozen Fire, was bought by his rider Gary Murphy for just €1,800 as a three-year-old at the Tattersalls August Sale.

Six months later, after finishing just half-a-length behind Gigginstown’s Dorydalis, who had cost €56,000 out of the same sale, Frozen Flame was sold for £145,000 in the Cheltenham sales ring.

That is the reward every producer of a four-year-old point-to-pointer chases and it all becomes real at Ballinaboola, Bellharbour and Tallow tomorrow.