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BUOYED by a dominant performance from the Irish team of challengers in last year’s renewal of the St. James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase, a total of 12 Irish-trained horses have been entered for the upcoming 2023 renewal of the race on March 17th.
Billaway pipped Winged Leader in the shadows of the post 12 months ago, with Mighty Stowaway completing a clean sweep of the placings for the visitors, and Billaway will bid to retain his title and emulate previous dual winners of the race such as The Callant, College Master and more recently Double Silk, Salsify, On The Fringe and Pacha Du Polder, as he contests the race for a fourth time.
He could be joined on St Patrick’s Day by a bumper Irish team, with the 12 entries from this side of the Irish Sea, the largest entry for the race since 2017, and encouragingly brings the number of Irish entries for the race back into double figures for the first time since 2019.
David Christie’s trio of Vaucelet, Ferns Lock and the aforementioned 2022 runner-up Winged Leader continue to fill the top three places in the ante-post market though Christie says only Vaucelet is an intended runner. Winged Leader is on course for Aintree and Ferns Lock runs in Gowran Park.
Northern strength
It is striking just how strong the contingent of open performers from the northern region in particular is, with Christie’s trio of entries, supplemented by a further four northern-trained possibilities courtesy of Stuart Crawford’s Dorking Cock, this season’s four-time open winner Brain Power and Seán McParlan’s Le Malin, who secured his qualification with victory last Sunday.
Rocky’s Howya has undoubtedly proven to be one of the stories of the season, a campaign he started as an 18-race maiden but since joining Declan Queally he has won all five races on the bounce shooting up through the ranks to win his two starts in open company by a combined 69 lengths.
Those recent successes leave him as the only horse to have won more races than Brain Power this season as he heads the leading point-to-pointer leaderboard.
Outside of the region’s challengers, Chris’s Dream could feature at his fourth Cheltenham Festival for Henry De Bromhead having contested the 2020 Gold Cup, with Emmet Mullins’ Its On The Line, The Storyteller for Gordon Elliott and the Ellen Doyle-trained Woodbrook Boy completing the Irish 12.
ROB JAMES thankfully avoided serious injury following a heavy fall from Colin Bowe’s Champersinthepark at the final fence in Lisronagh when the Walk In The Park mare looked to be booked for a debut success at the Tipperary venue.
The Wexford rider reported himself to be simply stiff and sore following the incident and although unlikely to be riding this weekend, he is hoping to resume race-riding swiftly after it.
The Lisronagh mishap came at the end of what had been a successful week for the 29-year-old who was responsible for one of the leading lights at the previous Thursday’s Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale when his Oldtown victor Jingko Blue was sold for £225,000 and is now set to join Nicky Henderson.
Training operation
James has expertly managed to combine race-riding this season with his own burgeoning training operation which still has a further 15 four-year-olds left to run.
Not only have seven of his 12 runners finished in the first three places this season, but in the saddle, he has kept Barry O’Neill honest in the rider’s title race courtesy of a 41% strike, unmatched by any rider in the top 20 at present.
James’ Lisronagh woes did leave last weekend as a rare weekend in the season that he has not featured on the scoresheet and it has allowed the reigning champion to establish some breathing room for himself at the top of the table as he now sits nine winners clear of James.
On the riding front, last weekend’s action was also a noted one for Mikey O’Connor, as the success of his own Rookery Woods was his 413th in the point-to-point sphere bringing him equal with Enda Bolger in fifth position on the all-time rider’s list, an achievement that will have great significance for the Cork rider.
ANY point-to-point supporters close to Kilworth could be in for a treat this evening with the Kilworth & Araglen point-to-point committee launching their new course Knockanohill.
To mark the brand new venue which sees the point-to-point return back to Kilworth village, the committee are hosting a point-to-point chat show which will see Enda Bolger, Maxine O’Sullivan, Eoin O’Brien, Darragh Allen, Darragh O’Keeffe and other special guests talking all things point-to-pointing.
The chat show begins at 8pm this evening in the Village Inn, Kilworth, and is part of the committee’s efforts to establish the fixture again within the locality.
Free of charge
Admission to the point-to-point itself on March 12th will be free of charge this year to mark its return to Kilworth village and it is expected to draw a large crowd as a result, with a dog show taking place on the day alongside a racecard draw which will feature a number of prizes including a trip to the Galway Races.
Drone footage of the new course will be posted to the Kilworth & Araglen Facebook page, while schooling will take place over the point-to-point course on the Monday morning after the fixture on March 13th.
Point-to-Point Ratings
IT is quite an achievement for a mare to beat geldings at this early juncture of the season in the four-year-old maiden division.
While there may be over 50 examples of mares doing just that over the course of the last 30 years, prior to last weekend, just six had done so in the month of February throughout that period.
The subsequent graded winners Telmesomethinggirl and Brandy Love were the last two horses to achieve the feat prior to Break My Soul (86+), ensuring her Tinahely success deserves maximum respect.
A foot-perfect round of jumping allowed her to travel strongly into the race from off the pace, and although challenged coming to the last, she only ever had to kept up to her work under a hands and heels ride.
Lisronagh hosted the weekend’s sole mares-only four-year-old maiden and despite being very slowly run it was not short of drama with Lady Balko (79+) taking advantage of the final-fence fall of the leader Champersinthepark (82x).
Stronger pace
The gelding’s equivalent was run to a much stronger pace, and the always prominent Bill Joyce (93+) had a brief scare three-out, but the manner in which he quickly regathered his momentum to travel full of running into the straight set the tone for his impressive success.
Meanwhile, Intense Approach (92+) gamely overcame not only determined and more experienced rivals, but also a stiff uphill finish to prove himself to be a tough youngster.
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