THE open lightweight division has a particularly strong look to it this weekend, boosted to an extent, by the looming deadline facing some connections to get their horses qualified for the St James’s Place Festival Hunter Chase at next month’s Cheltenham Festival.

The open races at this time of the year can often prove to be particularly competitive, as those owners and handlers hoping to have a runner at Prestbury Park in the blue-ribboned race in the hunter chase calendar, go in search of what could be an all-important open victory prior to the February 24th qualification cut-off.

Horses can gain their Cheltenham qualification by finishing first or second in two hunter chases, winning two open lightweights, or a mix of both, namely winning one open lightweight and finishing first or second in one hunter chase.

Big Interest is one horse yet to meet those criteria, despite having laid down his credentials to become a definite Cheltenham contender at Christmas, when winning the first big open hunter chase of the season at Down Royal.

The six-year-old could only finish fourth at Naas last Saturday, but it is interesting that he could be turned out quickly just seven days later, as he is one of 17 horses entered for the open at Oldtown this afternoon.

Key contest

The Naas contest, which has come to replace the Raymond Smith Memorial after it was axed from the Irish Gold Cup card at Leopardstown when the Dublin Racing Festival was created, has so often been key in establishing the pecking order of the Irish hunter chasers.

After all, in three of the last four years, the Naas victor has gone on to be crowned as the champion hunter chaser on these shores by the season’s end.

Therefore, going into the race, expectations were high that the picture would become clear ahead of the big spring festivals, but arguably, the picture has become even more muddled, with yet another new name emerging.

Ryehill was that latest new Cheltenham contender, after Ross O’Sullivan’s charge ran out the 12-length winner on what was just his 10th career start across all codes.

That typifies what has been a very open year within the hunter chase ranks here, with no horse yet managing to capture more than one race on the track this season, and the Cheltenham market headed by Its On The Line, who is winless from his two outings this term.

Third visit

Former Cheltenham Festival winner Angels Dawn has not yet contested a hunter chase, with Sam Curling preparing her for a third visit to the Festival via two open lightweight victories. The latest of which came at Dromahane when she defeated last weekend’s Naas winner Ryehill, which resulted in her credentials being further enhanced by last weekend’s results, while Willitgoahead put himself in the picture, with an effortless win on good ground at Thurles last month.

He had been beaten on slower ground at Limerick over Christmas by Con’s Roc, who himself had the Limerick form reversed, when the 2023 Cheltenham fourth Rocky’s Howya got the better of him in Cragmore.

There are many interlinking form lines to unpick over the coming four weeks and, whilst the pecking order may remain unclear, the host of new additions within the Irish team does leave it all to play for, with so many horses holding genuinely live claims.

ACTION in the point-to-point fields passed through the midway point of the season with last weekend’s three fixtures, and the season’s leaderboards have quite a different look to them compared with this point last year.

Twelve months ago, the reigning champion Barry O’Neill sat at the top of the table, having ridden 23 winners, 11 more than any other rider.

A dramatic change of fortunes through the second half of that campaign saw Rob James move from joint fourth in the standings, 13 winners adrift, to claim a share of the top prize by the season’s end.

Buoyed by that first national title, the Wexford rider now finds himself topping the standings at the midway point, four winners clear of O’Neill, with just a further four winners separating O’Neill and the three riders immediately behind him, namely Jamie Scallan, Barry Stone and Jack Hendrick.

In front

James is also in front in his home region of the east, Noel McParlan has ridden double the number of winners of any riders in the north, but it is a more closely run affair in both the south and west.

Seven riders are covered by two winners in the south, headed by the defending champion Darragh Allen, whilst Derek O’Connor again leads the way in the west.

Record-equalling

Maxine O’Sullivan remains on course to record a record-equalling eighth ladies’ title, while Josh Williamson is at the top of the under-21 standings.

In the training ranks, Colin Bowe has sent out 127 runners already, more double that of any other handler, and that has produced 20 winners to once again leave him in pole position to become the leading handler for a 13th time.

EAMONN Doyle clearly has his string in top form at present, in what is fast becoming a very notable first campaign as a handler for him. Four of his last five runners have returned victorious, all of which have done so while making their debuts, while the fifth horse was disputing the lead when unseating its rider.

The Wexford handler’s latest winner arguably put up one of the performances of the season, with Mossy Fen Coolio (96++) ticking all of the boxes at Tallow.

Never too far from the strong pace, he went to the front early on the final circuit, turning the screw even further to such an extent that he had victory sewn up leaving the back straight.

His advantage only grew further from there, as he went on to beat the form horse of the race by 25 lengths in the quickest time on the card, some 16 seconds faster than the average for the fixture. He is hugely exciting.

The four-year-old maiden on the card was run at a significantly slower pace, but when the race did develop, it was Hitintheheadlines (90+) who had the momentum behind him, as he came with his challenge when his two big dangers came down at the last.

That kickstarted an across-the-card double for Denis Murphy within the age group, as Taurus Bay (92+) also struck on debut.

Similarly coming from off the pace, he was confidently produced and only had to be pushed out hands and heels to win by two and a half lengths.

Twenty-four hours earlier in Kirkistown, it was a winning performance that was all about speed from Kanzler (90++), as Mick Goff won this maiden for the second year in a row.

His pedigree is full of flat performers, and he looks to have inherited all of that flat speed on the evidence of how he sprinted clear of his two rivals after the last to win with a lot in hand.