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THE race for the champion point-to-point horse title intensified at Moira on Saturday when Bold Enough moved to within one win of joining the season’s leading horse Rocky’s Howya at the summit of the pointer leaderboard with his sixth success of the season.
That three-length defeat of Stranger Danger was his fourth victory alone within the month of April, a not insignificant feat in itself, following similarly comfortable successes at Castletown-Geoghegan, Oldcastle and Fairyhouse, as the son of Jeremy has been playing catch-up.
That is because he only made his open debut at Kirkistown in mid-February having being bought out of Henry de Bromhead’s yard, and with his final start for the Knockeen Stables team having come at Galway in October, he was already ruled out of the autumn campaign.
Rocky’s Howya is still the horse to be caught heading into the final three weekends of the season.
His recent surprise defeat at Dromahane has however left him rooted on the seven-winner mark, and it has opened the door for his fellow title contenders to feel that there may be an opportunity to be seized upon.
Since Sean McParlan’s Mr Bolt became the first horse to go from a maiden winner to champion point-to-point horse within the same season when he tied for the 2015 title with Carrigeen Acebo, only High Stakes has since matched the feat in the Covid-curtailed 2021 season.
Declan Queally is also seeking to achieve the same feat with the ultra-progressive seven-year-old.
The son of Ask joined his Lisroe stable as an 18-race maiden before immediately embarking on a run of success which has left him in pole position for title honours.
Winning distances
A notable feature of his seven successes have been the winning distances he has achieved, which is in stark contrast to Bold Enough.
Rocky’s Howya’s seven successes have seen him defeat his rivals by a combined 147 lengths. Contrast that with Bold Enough who has only been doing the minimum required to prevail, evident in a combined winning distance of just 29 and a half lengths for his six successes.
Owned by Ray Nicholas and trained by David Christie, the combination responsible for two of the last three champion pointers in Some Man and Eddies Miracle, Bold Enough now has a further two opportunities this weekend to draw level, as he is entered at Grennan tomorrow and Toomebridge on Monday. Interestingly, that Toomebridge contest could also feature Rocky’s Howya stablemate Lord Schnitzel.
Bold Enough is not the only horse on six wins, as La Feline has also matched that feat, and although she was behind Rocky’s Howya on their latest outing in Dromahane, the season’s leading mare does have the advantage of a mares’ open at Stradbally next Sunday should her connections seek to go in search of a seventh success this season.
Either way, with only four further opens for the geldings after this weekend’s action, and three horses in contention, it is all to race for.
THE curtain came down on the 2022-23 National Hunt seasons on both sides of the Irish Sea at Punchestown and Sandown last Saturday, and it is fair to say that the season ended in style from a point-to-point perspective, as it brought to an end 12 months that brought 1,535 track successes for ex-pointers.
Last month was the winning-most April on record for graduates of point-to-pointing here as they won no fewer than 162 races throughout this one month alone, and it was filled with both quantity and quality.
The victory of Jonbon in the Celebration Chase at Sandown seven days ago was not only a second top-level success in April for the former Ellmarie Holden-trained Dromahane winner, but it brought to ten the number of Grade 1 wins in April for point-to-pointers following the wins of Flame Bearer, Banbridge, Constituition Hill, Shishkin, Apple Away, Gerri Colombe, Inthepocket and Feronily.
In all, former point-to-pointers won a total of 27 Grade 1 races as part of larger pool of 98 blacktype victories.
The soon to be 11-time champion handler Colin Bowe was responsible for the largest amount of those blacktype successes for any one handler courtesy of horses such as Gerri Colombe and Envoi Allen, but he is closely followed by Pat Doyle and Donnchadh Doyle.
That is a particularly creditable performance by the Suirview Stables team in particular given the difference in the sheer numbers passing through the three stables.
O’Sullivan makes quick transition to champion
THE equine graduates of the point-to-point fields cannot claim all of the spotlight last season as the sport was once again responsible for the season’s champion conditional jockey.
Twelve months earlier, Jack Foley, Jordan Gainford and Shane Fitzgerald, three jockeys that had made the move from the pointing sphere to the professional ranks in the not too distant past, filled the top three positions in the conditional jockey’s leaderboard. Last Saturday it was the turn of Michael O’Sullivan to be crowned as the 2023 champion.
The 23-year-old only made the switch to the professional ranks in September, but it is fair to that say he made quite the immediate impact with a Listowel Festival double and first graded success achieved within a matter of weeks of making that decision.
Success has continued courtesy of his association with Barry Connell and it has resulted in him ending the season, not just with that coveted silverware, but with three Grade 1 victories to his name and two at the prized Cheltenham Festival.
Quite the eight months you would have to agree.
The O’Sullivan family name is steeped within point-to-pointing here. As he has admitted it would not have been an easy decision to make the switch away from point-to-pointing, it is a decision that he is deservedly reaping the rewards for making.
Point-to-point Ratings
DREAM Shadow (84+) is another name to add to the expanding list of smart mares that have made their introduction in recent weeks, after she ran out a six-length winner at Stowlin.
Although Youhadmeathello travelled best to the first of three fences in the home straight, Dream Shadow soon had her measure to win comfortably going away. Her dam has already produced a Grade 2 winner in Shadow Eile and she too has blacktype potential on this early evidence.
Jayapura (83+) should also develop into a smart race mare after she picked up impressively off a steady gallop in Dromahane. Having travelled best into the straight, it was only at the final fence that she really hit top gear and galloped 11 lengths clear to win as she pleased.
The margin of victory was not as far for Chosen Judge (91+) in the more strongly-run geldings’ equivalent on the card, but at one stage after the last it looked like it could be, only for the improved runner-up to close notably in the dying strides when victory was already assured.
Elusive Prince (91+) triumphed at Dawstown in a race where speed was likely at a premium as all 12 runners were covered by just over seven lengths jumping three out, and it could prove to be a race to follow for subsequent winners.
It was a different test at Moira as El Granjero (92+) pounced late to run down what had looked the likely winner late on in a particularly quick time.
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