DAVID Christie, best-known as a trainer of point-to-pointers and hunter chasers, ended the 2021/22 campaign by recording a high-profile double at Britain’s top hunt racing fixture at Stratford in late May.

Carrying the colours of Portrush hoteliers John Hegarty and Jenny O’Kane, Ask D’man landed the pointtopoint.co.uk Champion Novices’ Hunters’ Chase (for the John Corbet Cup) while, over the same near three and a half-mile trip and also ridden by Barry O’Neill, the French-bred Vaucelet justified odds-on favouritism in the Pertemps Network Stratford Foxhunters Champion Hunters’ Chase (for the Horse and Hound Cup).

“That caused a huge stir among the point-to-point community across the water but went slightly under the radar at home,” said Derrylin-based Christie, the only licensed-trainer in Co Fermanagh.

“Here, most would remember my season for Winged Leader being caught close home and beaten a neck by Billaway in the Foxhunters’ at Cheltenham and Vaucelet finishing a length and a quarter second to the same horse in the Champion Hunters’ Chase at Punchestown.”

Peace

“I’m not saying it wasn’t frustrating but I’ve come to peace with those results myself. It is frustrating when you’re beaten by these trainers with huge yards of horses but you just have to raise yourself to their standards.

“To my mind, if it’s to be, it will be and getting beaten is all part and parcel of racing. I don’t feel the same pressure as I used to and while I’d love to win at Cheltenham – and I know my family would love to see me do so – it’s not the be all and end all.

“I will say however, I was gutted for Barry who rode both horses; those results were really hard on him. It would give me a great kick to give Barry a big Festival win; I gave him his 700th success when Some Man (the 2021/22 champion pointer) won the open at Ballindenisk last May.

“The same goes for my owners who wouldn’t have the spending power of the big boys and have to take a chance these days of buying an unproven horse.

“It’s hard when they travel around the country supporting their runners at point-to-points only for the big boys to sweep in on the big days.”

Billaway last ran between the flags in February 2018 when, on his second start, he landed a six-year-old geldings’ maiden at Ballinaboola.

That Well Chosen bay, who, following two second-place bumper finishes has since been campaigned exclusively in hunters’ chases by Willie Mullins, commenced his 2021/22 campaign last January at Thurles where he was beaten 12 lengths into second by Winged Leader.

He made his 2022/23 campaign debut in the same race this year and again had to settle for second behind another race-fit Christie-trained runner, in this instance Ray Nicholas and Sam Campbell’s Ferns Lock.

Three horses

At time of writing, Christie intends entering three horses in the St James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Hunters’ Chase on the Friday of this year’s Festival – Hegarty and O’Kane’s Winged Leader, who will have made his seasonal debut by that time; the same owners’ Vaucelet, who has already displayed his wellbeing with wins in an open and a hunters’ chase; and one of the new kids on the Leginn House block, Nicholas and Campbell’s Ultimate Optimist.

A seven-year-old by Fame And Glory, Ultimate Optimist is typical of the type of horse Christie is buying these days.

The bay, who was bought by Monbeg at the Goffs Land Rover Sale, won his maiden third time out for Wexford’s Donnchadh Doyle last season – in May at Stowlin – but, on three appearances this term, landed two winners’ races and a hunters’ chase for his new connections.

“The three of them will be entered and we’ll see where we go nearer to the day. There are other Festivals besides Cheltenham and other hunter chases here besides the champion at Punchestown.

“While I’ll definitely have runners again at Stratford, Ferns Lock, who’s just a six-year-old, will probably stay at home this season as there are plenty of nice races to be won here with him.”

That British-bred Telescope gelding claimed his maiden first time out at Lisronagh in February last year for the Peter Flood yard after which he was purchased for £60,000 by Christie.

Background

Christie comes from a farming background and while he always had an interest in horses, point-to-pointing and racing, it wasn’t until he took on a job at the Enniskillen Campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise that he got involved in training.

“I’d a ‘proper job’ of assistant farm manager at Greenmount (CAFRE’s agricultural, horticultural and environmental campus) when I was riding in point-to-points,” said Christie.

“I rode 17 or 18 winners and one in a hunters’ chase while I learned a lot from Ian Duncan and Colin McBratney who were the main guys I rode for.

Riding in the points was much different then as you didn’t have to get a licence or attend courses and there were a lot more people riding in those days. And the same was true for training, the small man – or woman – could train a horse or two for themselves without having to worry about permits or licences.

“The chance came up one day of me moving to Enniskillen where they were setting up the equine courses and I went in to get the racing and thoroughbred breeding side of the operation at Necarne off the ground.

I very much enjoyed my time there but it was a civil service job and trying to get anything done or approved just took too long so I decided to strike out on my own.”

Reputation

When he first came to prominence as a trainer on the point-to-point circuit, Christie had a deserved reputation of sweetening up older or jaded horses for open races such as Arctic Copper, Finoel, Royal Ranger, Top Twig and the like but, in recent years, apart from Some Man, he has found these horses harder to source.

“We’ve had to buy younger horses, ones that have run in a maiden or two, to make ourselves, and we have also cut back on the numbers.

“My son David and I decided a couple of years ago that 25 to 30 horses was the maximum we would have, concentrating on better horses. It keeps the costs under control and there’s also the matter of staff.

“We’re in a quiet part of the world up here and there’s not a lot for young people to do. You can see how much craic the staff in Willie’s and Gordon’s have – they’ve a much better social life – but that wouldn’t be the case here. And I’m not just talking about racing, look how much trouble they have getting staff for the Fermanagh Area Hospital.”

For all that, Christie loves the quiet life. “We do our own thing. We’d get the horses pretty fit at home and do a lot of loose schooling with them before taking them down to Skryne (Gallops, in Co Meath) two or three times max before they run.

“I love the point-to-points and will travel anywhere if I think there’s a race to be won by one of our horses. I love seeing other parts of the country especially when you come off the motorways.

Discover Ireland

“When I go places now I take everything in. For me, going pointing is like Discover Ireland – going to places you probably wouldn’t visit otherwise.

“I’m very lucky that my owners are also mad for travel. It was alright for us at the time, but Covid was very hard, very frustrating on my owners who want to see their horses run.

“They’re a great bunch who enjoy the sport. I would worry though about its future with all the problems around insurance.”

Christie’s track successes haven’t been confined to hunter chasing and he could have another runner at Cheltenham in the former Willie Mullins-trained Koshari who, on his first start for the Derrylin handler in November 2021, landed an extended three-mile handicap hurdle (a Pertemps qualifier) at Ainteee.

The French-bred has run only three times since then – in Grade 1 long distance hurdles at Cheltenham and Aintree in the spring of 2022 before re-appearing in a conditions hurdle on the final day of the year at Punchestown.

Kim Muir

Owned by a Co Roscommon syndicate, Koshari is being aimed at the Kim Muir.

When the Christie yard has runners in Britain, it can mean a family get together as David’s two daughters, Amy and Debi, who are both based in London, could well join their father and their brother at meetings.

Chances are, his wife won’t be there. “Maggie is a very strong supporter but isn’t heavily involved with the horses which I think is a good thing. She looks after all the things we forget!”

Whether he has been on another of his Discover Ireland tours or on a trip to Britain, no matter where Christie wanders, he loves returning to Derrylin.

“Most of the time, I have to drive over two bridges across the Lough (Erne) to get home and I always think how lucky I am to live in this part of the world where I can do my own thing quietly.”

This article is taken from The Irish Field Cheltenham Magazine 2023. CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY