THE curtain will come down on the 2023 Gain Mares’ Series on Sunday week, with the series final once again taking its traditional place as the centrepiece of the Ballynoe card on March 26th.

A highlight of the point-to-point season, the valuable final marks the culmination of the series which has run from November through to March, supporting over 20 point-to-points that are staged across seven counties across the country.

However, entries for the final are open to any horse mare that was a maiden at the start of the season and has since finished in the first four at any point-to-point across the country.

Gain Equine Nutrition and the Ballynoe point-to-point committee will present a bonus of €3,000 to the owner of the winning mare at the final which was won last season by the eight-year-old mare Koyote for Terence Leonard and Deirdre Connolly.

The two-and-a-half-length victory for the Vinnie Roe mare who has since gone on to win back-to-back British points for new trainer Tom Ellis, marked a fourth victory in the Gain Mares’ Series Final for rider Mikey O’Connor who said: “I always aim at the start of the year to try and find a mare that might be capable of winning the final. Koyote was tough, consistent and very honest.

Dream to win

“The Gain race is always a dream to win when I was younger and it does a lot for the point-to-points. It’s very big to the small person and the Gain race supports every small person that has a mare.”

Philip Gilligan, Irish Equine Country Manager for Gain Equine Nutrition said: “We are proud of our longstanding association with the Gain Mares’ Series that culminates with the final at Ballynoe, which is one of the most prestigious events in the point-to-point season.

“The aim of this series is to give the owners of mares a boost and encourage handlers to buy and race mares each season.

“This partnership demonstrates our commitment and support to the grassroots sector of the industry.

On behalf of the Gain Equine Nutrition team, I would like to wish all connections the best of luck in the final and thank those who have supported the series to date.”

The mares’ maiden on the Ballynoe card also boasts an enhanced prize fund with the O’Keeffe family presenting a €1,000 bonus to the winning owner of this race.

THE date for the second of the Mid Antrimpoint-to-points of the season has been put back by two days.

When the initial fixture list was published, the Broughshane fixture was scheduled for Saturday, May 6th, but the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee have confirmed that the meeting will now take place on Monday, May 8th.

This is a new bank holiday in Northern Ireland to mark the coronation of King Charles III and the Broughshane fixture will bring down the curtain on the point-to-point season in the northern region.

The INHSC have also announced the fixture at Moira next Saturday, March 25th, will now be run by the Co. Down Staghounds and not the Iveagh Foxhounds as had been scheduled. The programme of six races remains unchanged.

Point-to-point Ratings

Kirkistown kickstarted the action where the four-year-old maiden was run to a relatively steady pace for much of the contest before there was a notable pace injection on the final circuit.

Jeriko Du Reponet (95+) had been patiently ridden to that point and it could have seemed that he was on the back foot as the leading pair stretched 10 lengths clear of him early in the back straight.

However, the tactics actually allowed him to demonstrate the notable change of gears that he possesses, as not only did he eat into their advantage impressively after the penultimate fence, he then powered clear to record an 11-length triumph on debut.

He looks a special prospect for Colin McKeever and Wilson Dennison, who have had no shortage of future stars through their hands over the years.

Graded winners

Donnchadh Doyle had elected to introduce subsequent graded winners Topofthegame and Farouk D’Alene in the four-year-old maiden at Belclare in the past, and it once again looks to have been the chosen starting point for another likely future graded winner in Romeo Coolio (94++).

The Kayf Tara gelding appears to have a high cruising speed as he made all of the running clocking a time 15 seconds quicker than the card’s average. He had to be shaken up after a mistake two-out, but such was the immediacy of his response, he could be eased down after the last and still win by five lengths.

He will head to the track with a big reputation to uphold after this authoritative winning debut.

Doyle also claimed a double at Lingstown on a card which boasted the weekend’s biggest fields and contained a number of deep-looking maidens.

On that note, expect plenty of winners to emerge from the four-year-old mares’ maiden that was won by Mayor’s Walk (83+).

Seven horses took the home bend with chances in this, but three smart mares pulled clear and are all likely to feature prominently on the track.

In the four-year-old geldings’ equivalent, Jalon D’Oudairies (94+) would have won by further but for making a mistake at the final fence, with his stablemate Incognito Fatal (91+) having to dig deep to outbattle the more experienced Captain Butler (90) in the five-year-old equivalent.

Quickest time

However, it was the five-year-old mares’ maiden that clocked the quickest time on the card, as Banprionsa (87+) made the best possible start to her career.

Richard Black had already won the 2017 edition of the race with Maire Banrigh, and Banprionsa justified the confidence her connections had in her which saw her sent off as the short-priced favourite as she travelled easily throughout in a strongly-run big field maiden.

The pace found out most of her rivals, eight of the 14 pulled-up, yet Banprionsa simply pulled clear at her ease to beat a very solid benchmark by 22 lengths. The performance has to tick every box.

At Knockanohill, Finn Lough (91+) was left in front when the front pair fell two-out. He was however closing on them at the time and it would have set it up for an informative conclusion.