FRUSTRATINGLY, there has been no sign of the weather woes that have savaged the fixture list in recent weeks relenting.

Tattersalls was the only venue last weekend to survive the weather onslaught, as Curraghmore and Ballynoe were both defeated by the elements.

The Ballynoe fixture that was due to stage this season’s Gain Mares Final has now been abandoned, while the Waterford Foxhounds committee were dealt another unfortunate blow this season after failing to get the go-ahead to run their fixture on successive weekends and also losing their autumn meeting in early December.

Wet spell

Tomorrow’s fixture in Stradbally was the latest meeting to fall foul of the ongoing wet spell when it was found to be unfit for racing at an inspection on Monday afternoon.

The Laois course is typically associated with providing ‘Good’ ground opportunities for those horses that are seeking summer-like ground conditions, and ‘Good’ ground has been conspicuous by its absence all season long.

That has so far been confined to courses like Tyrella and Ballycrystal this season, and the latter venue has been drafted in by the Island Hunt to stage their fixture this afternoon which was initially due to have been staged at the new venue of Peppards Castle.

Short term approach

As the cancellations continue to mount up, it will be a relief for many handlers and owners to see a number of replacement fixtures being announced on Thursday evening for next Saturday’s programme. Unfortunately, the two venues at Moira and Tralee, which had been due to host that day’s point-to-pointing action, were both found to be unfit for racing when inspected in recent days.

The Co. Down fixture has now been abandoned, which indicates that no replacement date will be sought, with the North Kerry meeting in Tralee instead cancelled.

That would have wiped out next Saturday’s race programme, which would have compounded the misery of handlers, but thankfully two of the committees who have lost fixtures in recent weeks, are now in a position to race.

This has allowed the IHRB to now add the popular courses of Loughanmore and Curraghmore to Saturday, April 20th.

Replacements

The replacement fixture at Curraghmore will begin at 2pm with a pair of four-year-old maidens – one each for mares and geldings – followed by a five-year-old geldings’ maiden, a five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden, a mares’ winner-of-one, and a six-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden for novice riders.

There will also be a 2pm start on the same afternoon in Loughanmore, and it features a similar card, with the opening four races mirroring that at Curraghmore, followed by a winners-of-three and a six-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden

With Dromahane and Oldcastle still remaining on the meetings schedule for the following afternoon, on Sunday, April 21st, it will give handlers a stronger programme of fixtures in the immediate future – now all they need is for the rain to stop falling!

THERE is little over a month to go until the Welsh International point-to-point, which takes place at Trecoed on Saturday, May 18th, and the organisers have reaffirmed their efforts to attract Irish runners for the fixture.

Taking place on the Saturday prior to the Goffs UK May Sale in Doncaster, the course at Sleddau in Fishguard is conveniently located just five minutes from the Stena Line ferry port in Fishguard, which offers direct daily sailings from Rosslare.

The Pembrokeshire Hunt has also liaised with Paul Murphy of Horse Shuttle UK, who is happy to facilitate transport for horses intending to run at the fixture with discounted paperwork and travel concessions on the boat.

Arranged

Stabling has also been arranged with Welsh trainer Rebecca Curtis, just 15 minutes from the ferry.

The card features a point-to-point flat race, a two-and-a-half-mile maiden for four and five-year-olds, a restricted race, which is effectively a winners’ of one contest, and an open, with each of these races carrying a prize fund of £1,000.

Special conditions have been applied to the fixture which will allow Irish riders to ride horses who hold an Irish hunter certificate at the fixture.

Shark Hanlon has in the past reaped the rewards of targeting the previous international point-to-point on British soil when it was staged in Barbury, and it will be interesting to see if this latest revival of the international concept can take advantage of its favourable location to entice more Irish handlers to do likewise.

JOHN Nallen, Donal Hassett, and John Walsh can all lay claim to having produced a subsequent Aintree Grand National winner, with the point-to-point sphere here responsible for the last three winners of the Aintree spectacular.

Minella Times, Noble Yeats, and Corach Rambler have likely each given that trio of point-to-point handlers one of their biggest thrills in racing with their respective National victories, and two of that aforementioned trio of National winners are set to line up in the big race this afternoon.

Much of the discussion in the build-up over the past number of days has centred around the continued numerical domination of Irish-trained runners in the race, and the representation of point-to-point exports also remains worthy of note.

At the time of writing ahead of the final confirmation stage, 16 of the 34 horses holding places in the line-up had started their careers point-to-pointing here, including a number of those that are featuring at the summit of the ante-post market.

They are headed by the defending champion Corach Rambler, but Meetingofthewaters (Eugene O’Sullivan), Vanillier (Sam Curling), Mr Incredible (Colin Bowe), and Mahler Mission (Cormac Doyle) ensure that it is a strong team of ex-pointers that will bid for the four-timer.

Point-to-point ratings

JONATHAN Fogarty enjoyed a lucrative autumn with his select team of runners in the four-year-old maiden division, winning three races in the category throughout November, and his first winner in the junior age category in 2024 has continued that trend. Flamingo Grove (84++) proved to be a class above her largely more experienced rivals as she came through what appeared to be a straightforward initial assignment.

Taking advantage of her always prominent position, she was able to control the pace and her superiority was particularly notable as she lengthened to put the race to bed, winning by eight lengths with seemingly plenty in reserve. Jig’s Forge (92+) had finished a never-nearer third at Ballyragget last time, but on this occasion he reaped the rewards from the patient tactics, coming off the pace to finish best of all in a race with plenty of form in behind to add depth to the performance.