IF recent years have told us anything, it is that young Irish point-to-pointers are the must-have item for so many of the leading players within National Hunt racing at present.

That demand has fuelled the prices that they are able to realise, and the draw of potential life-changing pay-outs in the sales ring, has unsurprisingly proven to be an opportunity too great for many to turn down.

The knock-on effect this has had on the prices at the store sales, has forced individuals into looking for alternative ways to get involved in well-related young stock by fashionable sires.

Syndicates are not a new form of ownership in the racing world, offering the so-called ‘small man’ a taste of the ownership experience at more affordable prices.

While not exclusive to racing under rules, they have not been as numerically strong between the flags since the crash.

One relatively new syndicate is looking to break that mould, and it has made an immediate impact in offering owners a way into the buy-and-sell element of Irish point-to-pointing.

Pioneer Racing, which is the brainchild of Chris Donnelly, Myles Richardson and Sam Boswell, only had their first runners in point-to-pointing this year, and it did not take them long to get their members into the winner’s enclosure, with their colours carried to an impressive success aboard Beyond Redemption in division two of the Dennison Commericals four-year-old maiden at Loughanmore on Saturday.

NUMBER ONE

Donnelly, a 32-year-old, is no stranger to the number one spot in the winner’s enclosure at point-to-points all around the country, with the likes of Baltazar D’Allier, Elegant Escape, and more recently Rapid Escape, having won four-year-old maidens for him before being sold on to new connections. Unsurprisingly, this has provided him with an early taste of what is on offer in the sport.

“I love horse racing, I love being involved in livestock, but I am not a millionaire, I am not Michael O’Leary or J.P. McManus, so to be involved in the game, it has to pay the majority of it itself,” Donnelly said. “I started out with a horse Baltazar D’Allier that I sold to J.P. McManus after he won his point-to-point first time out and it sort of grew from there.

“A lot of people are not in a position to go out and buy a nice horse themselves. But there are people with a great passion for racing that want to get involved, so it was a case of me getting involved to give them that chance and potentially make life changing money if it works out.”

Offering ownership options on the track and in point-to-points, Donnelly’s two partners look after the day-to-day side of the business, including updating their website pioneerhorseracing.com, as he focusses on the sourcing of young horses with Mouse O’Ryan, and their point-to-point programme.

“It first started to take shape two years ago but has been going solidly now for 18 months with the combination of point-to-point horses and the horses on the track to cater for all interests.

“The store horses aren’t for everyone in the sense of the time and patience that it takes. I stress to anyone that was involved, you have to be able to deal with the fact that there will be ups and downs.

“At least when you lease a horse and it is not working out you can pull the plug, whereas with a point-to-point horse you are financially involved for the long-term and you have to understand that it takes time.”

Saturday’s Loughanmore victor, Beyond Redemption, was bought by O’Ryan and Donnelly for €40,000 at the 2017 Land Rover Sale, and as one of five pointers in training with Peter Flood, it marks a successful start to their partnership with the promising Meath handler.

“I think you have to put your money where your mouth is, and to me, my view was always that if you see someone getting the results with poor horses, I believe in giving them the chance with something that is hopefully a bit better.

“I have seen Peter (Flood) getting results with horses that he was only giving two or three thousand for at the sales and then going on to win five-year-old races and opens with, so I then had the belief to go with him.

“I believe in trying to give someone who is up-and-coming the chance and Peter is someone who with the right support can go right to the top of the point-to-point game.”

Their winning son of Court Cave was offered at last night’s Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham November Sale, with the success already sparking interest from potential new members ahead of next summer’s store sales and Donnelly is confident that they have struck upon a successful formula.

“Pioneer as a club has five point-to-pointers. We had a Presenting that ran a couple of weeks ago who is entered again this weekend and we have a very exciting Milan horse that is due to run in a couple of weeks, potentially in Lingstown, and we are hoping that he could be as good, if not better than the lad that won at the weekend.

“With the group of horses that we have bought, you could say that we have been very lucky, but I believe that you make your own luck in these situations – you buy the right horses, and have the right people involved.

“All the horses go directly from the sales to Ciaran Murphy’s to be broken, and straight away you’re in the yard that breaks all of Gigginstown’s horses, so you are in with the right people from day one. You buy the horses and are then giving them the best chances to be successful.”

You certainly can’t argue with that logic.