A CHELTENHAM Festival tally of seven winners may not quite match the great heights of the past three years’ spoils for pointing graduates, but it can still be considered a successful four days for the sport.

Particularly when it is remembered that just four Festival races were claimed by former pointers at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival.

In all, 122 former Irish pointers took to the track in Prestbury Park last week, accounting for 30% of all runners when the two juvenile races are excluded, and their seven race victories were supplemented by a further 16 placed finishes.

Constitution Hill cemented his position as the sport’s new poster boy with his nine-length defeat of State Man in the Champion Hurdle, his sixth successive victory since he met with a narrow defeat in a four-year-old maiden at Tipperary.

The Tipperary Foxhounds took charge of that April 2021 fixture and they stage the last of their three fixtures in Lisronagh this season with the ladies’ open as the undoubted highlight, while the final race on the card is sponsored by Sam Curling.

Notable results

His Skehanagh Stables was responsible for one of the Festival’s notable results from a point-to-point perspective as Angels Dawn gave Curling and Tipperary rider Pa King their first Cheltenham Festival success in the Kim Muir.

King was one of three former under-21 champion point-to-point riders to enjoy a first Festival success with Michael O’Sullivan and Ben Harvey achieving similar feats swiftly after their switch to the professional ranks, a move that Harvey only made in mid-December, but both have already reaped rich rewards.

Ultima Handicap Chase: Corach Rambler (John Martin Walsh)

Champion Hurdle: Constitution Hill (Warren Ewing)

Mares’ Hurdle: Honeysuckle (Gerry Cosgrave)

Ryanair Chase: Envoi Allen (Colin Bowe)

County Hurdle: Faivoir (Donnchadh Doyle)

Albert Bartlett Novices’ HurdleB>:

Festival Hunters Chase: Premier Magic (Mark Cahill)

Berry finds Time on the flat

TOSCA TIME has quite an unorthodox profile for a horse that had won a four-year-old mares’ maiden by 20 lengths.

The Ballyragget victor entered her Irish debut having run three times on the flat as a juvenile back in 2021, beating a combined six rivals home across those three starts at Lingfield and Newmarket when under the care of Sylvester Kirk.

The bay is from the first crop of the National Stud-resident Time Test, himself a dual Group 2 winner when with Roger Charlton, and the sire of Moyglare Stud Stakes third Sunset Shiraz and Michael O’Callaghan’s 2022 Beresford Stakes victor Crypto Force.

Connections could certainly not have taken much confidence from his limited progeny to have tackled obstacles in a competitive environment, as he was unproven in this domain when she was purchased, with Never To Trouble his sole previous runner over jumps only gaining her initial success in a mares’ maiden hurdle at Hereford late last month.

Flat cast-off

But this is not the first time that Tosca Time’s trainer Darragh Berry has achieved four-year-old maiden success in the point-to-point sphere with what could be considered a cast off from the flat.

Six years ago Northern Beau lined-up for her point-to-point debut in Fairyhouse with even less inspiring form figures from the flat having run six times on the level for both Ron Harris and Clare Cannon over trips from six furlongs up to a mile and two furlongs.

She received a turf flat rating of just 32 after her final start on the level when beaten 17 lengths in six-furlong handicap at Ayr.

But within a year of that uninspiring Ayr performance, she had also won her four-year-old mares’ maiden at the first time of asking before proving it was no fluke when doubling up in winners’ company a fortnight later in Rathcannon.

Then handled by Brian Jordan but running in Berry’s own colours, she realised a fine profit for connections when sold for £68,000, but it was a fee that her subsequent owners recouped when she won over £80,000 in prize money including three times at Cheltenham.

Monksgrange hosts this weekend’s sole four-year-old mares’ maiden with horses costing up to €85,000 among the 20 entries, however, Berry has again proven that straying away from convention can still be rewarded.

THE unpredictable nature of the Irish climate at present has been evident in recent weeks. Pointing action in the month of March began at Tyrella, a fixture hit with a rare walkover and ground which featured firm in the going description.

Fast forward just two weeks and conditions could not have been any more different as the 145 horses that took to the track last weekend had to cope with an extreme test with heavy ground the order of the day on Sunday.

Unfortunately last Saturday’s fixture in Portrush did fall foul of the inclement conditions with a waterlogged track but the Route committee will have a second chance to run their fixture this afternoon with the original entries standing.

That was made possible by the postponement of the fixture which had been scheduled for today in Moira, as that track was also found to be waterlogged. The Co Down Staghounds have been given a new date for their fixture of Saturday April 29th.

Point-to-point Ratings

FITTINGLY on the weekend following the emotional fourth Cheltenham Festival success of Honeysuckle, arguably the greatest mare to have emerged from the point-to-point fields, it were the mares who took centre stage among the domestic action.

Joseph Ryan’s Garde La Peche (82+) could scarcely have been any more dominant as she clocked the quickest time on the Durrow card to make a winning debut in the five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden.

The French-bred is solely responsible for that time having made all, and in defeating a previously placed and solid benchmark by a widening 12 lengths, she marked herself out as being capable of following in the footsteps of her mother La Trattoria who finished fourth in a Grade 1 hurdle in France that also featured the subsequent Gold Cup winner Long Run.

The margin of victory for Tosca Time (83+) was even larger in Ballyragget as she ran out a 20-length winner on her initial start in the sphere.

In contrast to the following five steadily-run races at the Kilkenny venue, this opening contest was run to a strong gallop from an early point courtesy of Sea Nora (0+) who still remained 20 lengths clear entering the back straight on the final circuit. Her advantage was being reduced when she came down two-out, which left Tosca Time to clock a standout time 21 seconds faster than the average on the card.

At Liscarroll, Hathaways Cottage (80+) looked to be another above-average winning mare after she battled back once headed to win gamely and should develop into a smart staying chaser.

Her victory had followed the debut success of Cantico (92+) and he can be considered good value for the narrow winning margin as he looked set to record a clear-cut victory approaching the last only to make a mistake.

Conditions did not make it easy for him to regain his momentum, but it is a measure of his toughness that he dug deep to rally again on the run to the line.