A REGULAR presence in the shake-up for the champion handler honours, the current 2015/16 season for Fermanagh-based David Christie is one that epitomises the striking ups and downs that National Hunt racing can so cruelly inflict on connections.

A dream start to the campaign witnessed Christie-trained horses win five of the first eight open lightweights run throughout the autumn, a sequence which has been maintained right through the season, as of the 21 races in the open division that his horses have contested, they have a sizeable nine of them.