ALTHOUGH point-to-point racing last weekend came to a premature halt, racing under rules continued behind closed doors, and there was a particularly strong point-to-point element to much of Sunday’s Downpatrick action, no less so in the day’s feature, the Randox Ulster National.

The €50,000 contest was claimed by Chris Jones’ Space Cadet, a horse that had started the season winning consecutive open lightweights at Castletown-Geoghegan and Moig South, to give former point-to-point rider Gearoid O’Loughlin one of the biggest days in his burgeoning training career, while for Ben Harvey, the success was a particularly notable way to open his account under rules.