FOR the fourth time within the past five years, the Randox Grand National winner was sourced from within the point-to-point fields on these shores, as Nick Rockett followed in the footsteps of Corach Rambler, Noble Yeats and Minella Times by scooping one of the biggest prizes within the sport.

The Walk In The Park gelding had made a winning start to his career when under the care of Pat Doyle. Notably, six of the first eight finishers in last Saturday’s National had run in a four-year-old maiden between the flags, with Nick Rockett’s introduction to competitive action coming at Curraghmore, a course local to his then owners, the O’Byrne family.

Coincidentally, 31 years earlier, Miinnehoma also won the Grand National, and, like Nick Rockett, he too was a horse that Doyle and the O’Byrne family could lay claim to.

Last Saturday was all the more notable for Doyle and his family-run Suirview Stables operation, as two hours before the National itself, they were responsible for their latest Grade 1 winner, when Honesty Policy came out on top in the Turners Mersey Novices’ Hurdle.

Quick progression

Now in the J.P. McManus colours, the five-year-old achieved the notable feat of winning a Grade 1 contest in the same season that he has run in a point-to-point.

The Jukebox Jury gelding had only made his debut at Castletown-Geoghegan back in early October, when chasing home Colin Bowe’s Bonapartes Retreat in the second division of the four-year-old maiden on the card.

His conqueror from the Westmeath venue has not yet been seen since, but that is quite the form boost prior to his rules debut, whenever that may be, having been sold privately to join Sarah Humphrey.

Honesty Policy was one of three Grade 1-winning ex-pointers at the Aintree Festival, with Jonbon taking his tally of top-level success to 10, and his prize money purse over the £1.3 million mark by landing the Melling Chase for a second year, whilst Hiddenvalley Lake, who was unlucky not to win his four-year-old maiden for Marie Harding, scooped the Liverpool Hurdle.

AFTER a memorable result for the Irish challengers in the hunter chase at the Cheltenham Festival, it was not to be in the Aintree equivalent with Lifetime Ambition fairing best of the eight Irish challengers in the Randox Foxhunters, when coming home in third.

The race itself produced a very encouraging 29 starters, the biggest since 2015 and, although half of the Irish challenge made it into the top 10, with Milan Forth in seventh and Annamix finishing in ninth, whilst the favourite, Willitgoahead, was 10th.

They were ultimately no match for Gracchus De Balme, a Manbolix gelding that started his career winning a four-year-old maiden for Kilkenny handler Kieran Purcell, before progressing to run on the track for Joseph O’Brien.

Interestingly, he was the second successive winner of the Aintree Foxhunters to have been sourced by his present connections as an inexpensive purchase from a ThoroughBid online auction.

Now a nine-year-old, he was bought for £12,500 last July, whilst the 2024 victor, It’s On The Line, had been secured for the even cheaper price of £8,000 at a ThoroughBid sale in March 2022.

With the hunter chase division affording owners the chance to secure glory at all of the big spring festivals, the price of a top hunter chaser can often reach a significant sum, so those consecutive victories for a pair of what would be considered value purchases must give everyone hope.

BY the season’s end in six weeks’ time, we may look back on last weekend’s action in the point-to-point fields as a pivotal one in the outcome of The Irish Field rider’s title.

For the first six months of the season, no one rider has been able to separate themselves from the pack, with Rob James and Barry O’Neill, who had shared the spoils last season, trading places at the top of the standings, whilst the likes of Jamie Scallan and Barry Stone have been snapping at their heels, in what is already a personal-best campaign for the latter pair.

It looked like the stars were aligning for another fiercely contested title showdown over the closing weeks.

However, that now looks less likely after Barry O’Neill dominated last weekend’s action. The eight-time champion had seven rides across the two days of racing at Taylorstown and Dromahane, finishing in the first two in each of them but, crucially for his title aspirations, he won five races courtesy of his chief supporters, Colin Bowe and David Christie.

Heading into racing on the penultimate weekend of March, O’Neill still trailed his great friend and rival James by one winner, but since then, the pendulum has swung in his favour, and he now enjoys a healthy nine-winner advantage at the summit of the standings, having ridden 11 winners across the last six race days.

With over half of them coming with hat-tricks in the northern region at both Portrush and Taylorstown, O’Neill has also now shot to the top of the riders’ standings in that region, as we head into the business end of the season.

Point-to-point ratings

CONSECUTIVE mistakes at the final two fences were not enough to stop Ballycommon Boy (93+) from making a winning debut at Dromahane last Sunday. That four-year-old geldings’ maiden was not run to a particularly strong gallop and, consequently, nine horses were covered by three lengths turning in, with the Harzand gelding showing a great deal of pace to prevail despite those errors.

That race played out in stark contrast to the mares’ equivalent on the card, where Fairy Park (83+) bossed proceedings from three-out, in a race where few ever got involved, as she was a class apart.

At Rathcannon, Crystal Island (92+) looked to be getting the better of the argument quite nicely until getting in deep to the penultimate fence, and he repeated that with further signs of his inexperience at the last. He swiftly picked up again after both slow jumps and, therefore, looks like considerable value for the winning margin.

Disappointingly, Gowitdflow (80+) had just two rivals to beat in the mares’ maiden within that age group on the card and, consequently, speed was at a premium at the end of a slow-run race.

There were also just four runners in the four-year-old maiden at Taylorstown, where Freshers Week (87+) just held on in a bunched finish.

Positive tactics proved to be key at Castletown-Geoghegan with five of the six winners on the card racing from a prominent position, and that was the case with the four-year-old maiden winner Myrighthandman (88+).

He began to increase the pressure on his rivals quite early on the final circuit. Having slipped the field three-out with a particularly swift leap, he took advantage of some excellent jumping for a newcomer, before he showed a great attitude to fend off his challengers when joined in the straight.