THE 2017/18 National Hunt seasons drew to a close in both Britain and Ireland last Saturday, with the crowning of champions on both side of the Irish Sea. Away from the titles which garnered much of the late season headlines, the big winners this season have been the record breaking successes of Irish point-to-point graduates.

GRADUATES

The 2017/18 season will go down in history as by far the most successful ever on record for horses that graduated from the point-to-point fields here. During the heart of the National Hunt season between October and April, 1,081 races were won by point-to-point graduates – an all-time record.

Last season marked the first time in the 14 years that the track performances of point-to-pointers have been recorded, that the number of winners broke the 1,000 mark for that October to April seven month period. The tally for that 2016/17 season had reached 1,012 winners.

This season the winners have continued to rise, increasing by a further 9% year-on-year, to this 1,081 peak.

This is the 12th straight season that the number of track winners has increased, and the pace of those increases is showing no sign of abating. When records began at the start of the 2004/05 season, the tally by April 2005 came to just 400. In the 13 years since, that number has more than doubled, increasing by over 170%.

That all-time high was helped in part by two record breaking months before Christmas. In November, 179 races were won by point-to-point graduates in Britain and Ireland, then eclipsing the previous single month record of 176 which dated back to March 2016. That new record, which previously had lasted for 20-months, stood for just one solitary month, as a bumper haul of 56 winners over the busy six days of the Christmas racing period from St. Stephen’s Day to New Year’s Eve, saw the December 2017 figure reach the new all-time height of 180 winners.

In an illustration as to just how successful this season has been for point-to-point graduates, three of the seven months from the heart of this National Hunt campaign, feature in the top six all-time monthly highs. With records stretching back over 14 years, that covers no less than 98 individual months between the October and April seasons.

BLACKTYPE WINNERS

The 1,081 track winners highlight the sheer number of races that Irish point-to-pointers are going on to win. This success is coming at all levels, from a selling hurdle at Sedgefield to the blue ribbon Cheltenham Gold Cup and at every different interval in between.

Rarely does a day go by between October and April without a point-to-point graduate in the winners’ enclosure at a National Hunt meeting in Britain or Ireland.

While the overall number of winners continues to set records, it is at the top end of the sport that point-to-point graduates are really now making their mark.

From the 12 months of May 2017 to April 2018, no fewer than 111 blacktype races in the two jurisdictions were won by horses who had started their careers in an Irish point-to-point. This is the first time that the number of blacktype winners has reached triple figures in a single season.

That may be a milestone in itself, but it is the seismic jump in blacktype winners this season that is most staggering of all. The 111 winners represents a near 40% increase in the space of just 12 months on the 80 blacktype races that were won by point-to-point graduates during the 2016/17 season.

The better quality of store that is being bought by point-to-point handlers thanks to the greater buying power that record returns at the sales has afforded them, is really beginning to shine through with these results.

TRACK VICTORY

On the track, victory for Ballyoisin in a Grade B Chase at Killarney kicked off the summer successes and that rolled on at record breaking levels right through to the victory of Step Back in the £150,000 Grade 3 Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the final day of the season last Saturday.

That pair, who possess markedly contrasting profiles, are a reminder that big race winners can emerge from across a point-to-point card. The younger age maidens certainly capture the majority of the spotlight when it comes to those looking to spot the future big race winners, and Ballyoisin fits that profile. He won his four-year-old maiden at Belclare in 2015 for Enda Bolger and J.P. McManus in his one and only appearance between the flags.

At the other end of the spectrum, Step Back, the final blacktype winner of the National Hunt campaign, spent two seasons point-to-pointing, winning an older maiden at Kirkistown for George Stewart before picking-up back-to-back winners’ races at Oldcastle and Broughshane for Stewart and Mark O’Hare in 2016.

The Indian River gelding ran eight times in total between the flags before being bought by his current trainer Mark Bradstock at the sales for £47,000.

POWERHOUSES

That spread of profiles also extends into the handlers’ ranks. The last number of seasons may have seen the emergence of a number of powerhouse stables who are certainly making their presence felt in the younger maiden division at present, but they do not completely dominate the list of blacktype winners.

They certainly have a big presence, and unsurprisingly given the number of well-bred horses passing through their yards, they are at the fore. However the sheer number of different handlers that have produced at least one of this season’s blacktype winners is noteworthy.

In total, 83 former point-to-pointers were responsible for winning those 111 blacktype races, and they represent no fewer than 53 different handlers from right across the country who had saddled them to run in a point-to-point.

Donnchadh Doyle and Pat Doyle are the two responsible for the greatest number of individual horses that went on to achieve blacktype track success during the season.

Seven horses each that the pair had saddled to run here between the flags went on to achieve blacktype successes during the season. In the case of Pat Doyle, his seven won 11 different blacktype races between them, including the four Grade 1 races won by Death Duty, Shattered Love and Outlander.

For Wexford’s Donnchadh Doyle, his seven blacktype performers won eight blacktype races between them including Tralee four-year-old maiden winner Monbeg Notorious, who collected the Thyestes Chase and Grade 2 Ten Up Novices’ Chase during 2018.

Colin Bowe, Colin McKeever, Gordon Elliott and Ian Ferguson complete the top six of blacktype-winning producers, with that quartet responsible for producing a number of the season’s big race winners from the point-to-point fields.

TOTAL WINNINGS

At the peak of the sport, Irish point-to-pointers won a total of 19 Grade 1 races during the season, up 46% on last season, including a Gold Cup dominance. Many owners and trainers view Irish point-to-points as their go-to market to buy a potential Gold Cup winner. They were not far wrong this season.

Victories for Irish point-to-pointers in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Punchestown Gold Cup, was certainly the icing on the cake for what was a golden season on the track for the sport’s graduates.

Number of track winners for Irish point-to-point graduates per month

Month Total

Dec 17 180

Nov 17 179

Mar 16 176

Dec 13 166

Nov 13 165

Feb 18 161