OVER 300 people attended the 44th annual point-to-point awards last Saturday, staged for the first time at the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny.

Hotel owner John Flynn and family are well known in racing as owners of the three-time Grade 1 winner Colreevy. John and his son Mark (general manager) pulled out all the stops to ensure the event ran smoothly and guests had a great evening/morning.

The food and service were top class, the party was still going on at 6am (Dublin band Jellybean followed by DJ), and a late breakfast was provided for those who slept late on Sunday morning.

MC Richard Pugh had the hardest job of all, trying to keep the restless audience engaged while giving a record 21 award winners their deserved moment of recognition. To be fair, the crowd were very attentive.

Among the special guests in the room was Rachael Blackmore who, in a past life, was a member of the organising committee. Nowadays the event is organised by the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee and, in particular, by Ray Bergin and his team in the IHRB point-to-point department.

IHRB director Jill Farrell addressed the crowd before dinner and revealed that insurance cover for point-to-points has been secured and covers the entirety of next season.

The evening began with the Weatherbys Leading Breeder Award, which was shared between veteran breeders Ken Parkhill and Jim Mernagh, both of whom bred four winners of five races last season.

Also sitting at their table was Robert McCarthy of The Beeches Stud who was called forward to receive the Goffs Leading Sire Award on behalf of Soldier Of Fortune. The 2007 Irish Derby winner had 38 winners during the campaign, 12 more than any other sire, and matching the record set by Beneficial in 2015.

The Tattersalls Ireland Champion Horse Award goes to the highest-rated performer in point-to-points or hunter chases and that had to be Its On The Line, a winner at Aintree and Punchestown, and second at Cheltenham. Emmet Mullins accepted the award on behalf of owner J.P. McManus, who won it before with Elegant Lord, Gilgamboa and On The Fringe.

The Connolly’s Red Mills Champion Point-to-Pointer Award is awarded to the horse who simply wins the most races between the flags and that was Winged Leader. Trained by David Christie, the 11-year-old won nine in a row from February to May for owners Jennifer O’Kane and Sam Hegarty.

For the third year in a row La Feline won the ITBA Champion Mare Award though this time she did without winning a single race. Sam Curling’s mare earned the title simply by finishing second to Lifetime Ambition at Belharbour in February.

Representing Sam Curling and connections on the night was Correna Bowe who memorably sold Echoing Silence for £410,000 at the Cheltenham Festival Sale.

Award winners

Weatherbys Leading Breeder: Ken Parkhill and Jim Mernagh

Goffs Leading Sire: Soldier of Fortune

Tattersalls Ireland Champion Horse: Its On The Line

ITBA Champion Mare: La Feline

INHSC Female Novice Rider Series: Sophie Carter

INHSC Male Novice Rider Series: Shane Cotter

HRI Leading Northern Rider: Noel McParlan

HRI Leading Eastern Rider: Rob James and Jack Hendrick

HRI Leading Western Rider: Alan O’Sullivan and Derek O’Connor

HRI Leading Southern Rider: Darragh Allen

Thoroughbred Remedies Ireland

U21 Leading Rider: Shane Cotter

Connolly’s Red Mills Champion PTP Horse: Winged Leader

Healy Racing Personality Award: Barry O’Driscoll

Race Displays Champion Handler: Colin Bowe

Newpark Hotel Senior Champion Rider: Derek O’Connor

P2P.ie Champion Lady Rider: Susie Doyle and Maxine O’Sullivan

The Irish Field Champion Rider: Barry O’Neill and Rob James

GREAT rivals but, more importantly, great friends.

Barry O’Neill and Rob James epitomised all that is good about point-to-points when they came to the stage to share The Irish Field Riders Championship for 2023-’24.

Both from the same area in Co Wexford, they have soldiered together for years, sharing lifts to the races, battling it out on the track, and then putting it all behind them and heading home in the same car again.

O’Neill has been champion on his own for the past seven seasons while James has finished a clear second for the past two years, proof that Wexford remains the centre of the point-to-point world these days.

A suspension and injury for O’Neill in this latest season opened the door for James to mount a serious title challenge and he hit the front for the first time in April. In mid-May O’Neill got back on terms and it was then that the pair decided to shake hands on it and sit out the final fortnight of the season.

O’Neill is closing in on Derek O’Connor’s record of 11 titles and is the third winning-most rider of all time. He has been champion in all four regions but, oddly, was not champion in any region last season, whereas Rob James took a share of the Eastern title.

James, who rode his first winner in 2012, is a previous champion novice rider and has won several regional titles. He has won 345 races between the flags (142 for Donnchadh Doyle) and has won a Scottish National as well. He is also training successfully now.

Barry O’Neill said: “To get back here, and to stand alongside a fella like Rob, is unbelievable. I always had an eye on Rob. We’ve had good and bad days and a couple of ‘conversations’ over the years, but overall I am absolutely delighted to share this with a good friend of mine.”

Rob James commented: “It’s brilliant to share this with Barry. We’ve been trucking around a long time, up and down to the North. I’ll let ‘Bon’ keep the trophy for six months, then I will take and try to keep it!”

Top handler

Barry O’Neill has long admitted that he would not have achieved his success without the support of perennial champion handler Colin Bowe and it was Bowe who provided Rob James with some key winners he needed last season too.

Bowe would openly accept he didn’t have a great season – his horses were out of form at times – but he still managed to send out 38 winners, 13 more than runner-up Donnchadh Doyle, and claim the Race Displays Leading Handler trophy for the 10th time in a row.

SHANE Cotter only rode in his first race last October and had his first winner in December.

So it was some achievement for him to end up as the season’s leading under 21 rider with 15 wins, defeating last year’s winner Dara McGill in the process.

From the Britway/Ballynoe region in Co Cork, Cotter not only won the TRI-sponsored under 21 award, he also ran away with the INHSC novice rider series.

This series has seen a lot of open lightweights restricted to novice riders, which has been hailed as a successful initiative.

Cotter has only had seven rides on the track and has yet to ride a winner but that won’t be long in changing. He looks a natural light weight and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him turn professional.

He had plenty of supporters in the Newpark Hotel last weekend but the biggest cheer of the night was for Darragh Allen, the new champion rider of the southern region.

Allen has been riding since 2012 and is best known to racing fans as the regular rider of Da Capo Glory, on whom he has won three times and finished seventh in the Coral Cup.

Noel McParlan won the northern title for a fourth time but it’s been seven years since he, or any northern-based rider, last held the title.

The Eastern region saw Rob James and Jack Hendrick share the spoils with 22 winners apiece. Hendrick was winning his first title at the age of 25 and the majority of his winners were supplied by Denis Murphy and Cormac Doyle.

We also had a tie in the west, where the great Derek O’Connor matched 21-year-old Alan O’Sullivan, a brother of Michael and both of them sons of William ‘Lovely Citizen’ O’Sullivan.

As he showed at Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown, O’Connor (41) is riding better than ever and it was remarkable to hear him speak fondly of starting his career in the O’Sullivan yard “probably before Alan was born.”

O’Connor was back on stage later to pick up the Newpark Hotel Senior Rider Award, now restricted to over 38s, and he gave a hint that he intends to carry on riding next season, despite his growing training operation.

When Richard Pugh teased O’Connor that he might have challenged for the overall title this year, the 11-times champion said: “It would have taken a huge effort and unfortunately it isn’t in me anymore.”

He said he was enjoying the training side and stressed he is in a “privileged position” to be training for J.P. McManus and receiving well-bred horses who have already been well prepared.

MAXINE O’Sullivan and Susie Doyle shared the P2P.ie Champion Lady Rider Award after a nailbiting final few weeks of the season.

Doyle, the reigning champion, had a lead of six by mid-February but O’Sullivan got back on terms in the spring only to be sidelined with injury in May. Fortunately for her, Doyle didn’t have any luck on the closing weekends.

While Doyle was winning her second title, O’Sullivan now has seven, which puts her one behind Liz Doyle and Liz Lalor.

A name to note is that of Sophie Carter, winner of the INHSC-sponsored novice rider series for females.

From Oxford, Carter began her career riding on the flat in England before coming to work for Colin Bowe in Wexford. She made her point-to-point debut in 2022 and was a wide-margin winner of this year’s points-based series for novice riders.

BARRY O’Driscoll is the latest winner of the Healy Racing Personality of the Year Award.

From Bandon in Co Cork, O’Driscoll has been a key figure in the Cork & Waterford Point-to-Point Association for 50 years.

A solicitor by profession, he has been treasurer of Carbery point-to-point for over half a century and his legal expertise has proved invaluable to the sector.

O’Driscoll has been to the forefront in ensuring that point-to-points retained their insurance cover, setting up the Cork & Waterford scheme which has been crucial to the survival of racing in that area.

He was a winning jockey in his time and has also enjoyed success as an owner.

Accepting his award, O’Driscoll showed his deep pride in his local point-to-point at Bandon, recalling the 2012 edition of the open lightweight which saw Whyso Mayo defeating Oscar Delta by half a length – a race good enough for the Cheltenham Festival.

Asked what advice he could pass on to the next generation, O’Driscoll said: “I think what the Turf Club has done in terms of the event management for point-to-points is important. We’ve been doing this for years in Cork & Waterford. I would just plead with the jockeys to always behave yourself in front of the public because they are the people who will sue you!”