TWENTY years on from the victory of Best Mate in the 2002 King George VI Chase, Bravemansgame became the first point-to-point graduate since that triple Gold Cup winner to triumph in the prestigious Grade 1 event when landing the 2022 edition of the Kempton feature.

For Paul Nicholls it was the vindication of a long and publicly declared belief in the Brave Masonnien gelding that stretched back to his initial Grade 1 success in the 2020 Challow Hurdle.

His 10-length defeat of the ill-fated Star Gate at Newbury led Nicholls to compare Bravemansgame with his former Gold Cup hero Denman, whom himself was a graduate of the Irish pointing fields in Liscarroll.

Not only was Nicholls outspoken in comparing him to one of the great former inmates of his Ditcheat stable, but he has long spoken of his belief that he would be a serious contender for a King George.

That faith was upheld at Christmas, a festive period where his 14-length of Royal Pagaille was the highlight of 81 victories for point-to-point graduates in the seven days from St. Stephen’s Day through to New Year’s Day.

The Monbeg touch

No handler was responsible for more of them than Donnchadh Doyle, with former inmates of his Monbeg Stables contributing eight wins to that tally, headlined by Bravemansgame’s Grade 1 triumph.

“He was the real highlight of all the Christmas winners for us,” Doyle acknowledged having sent out Bravemansgame to win his four-year-old maiden at Lingstown in 2019 on his debut by an impressive 10 lengths.

“It was great to see him go and get it done because there was a lot of talk about it beforehand. It was great for Paul Nicholls too as even going back a couple of years he has spoken highly of him and it is great to see him get it done. Hopefully he will go on and run well in the Gold Cup now.”

That bumper festive haul for Doyle’s former pointers came at a time when his Wexford yard is riding high. No other stable came close to matching his haul of eight four-year-old maiden victories in the autumn.

“I had a right run in the autumn. When the ground went quicker in the spring I did nothing with them. I was never going to run any of the better ones on that ground but it came together then in the autumn.

“The autumn is a big help because there is no need to be rushing at all earlier in the year. If the horses get a little bit sick on you or any little setback like that you can let them out into the field and give them a couple of months off.”

The closing weeks of the pre-Christmas term saw Doyle unleash a number of impressive maiden winners who unsurprisingly have been snapped up subsequently.

His Quakerstown winner Ideal Des Bordes has joined Nicky Henderson, while the Borris House winning pair of Welcom To Cartries and Iorgangi De L’Isle have joined Paul Nicholls and Donald McCain respectively having sold privately following their point successes as he now turns his attentions to the spring.

“I have a couple of autumn horses that are now five-year-olds but I won’t run anything until February.

“I gave all the horses a 10-day break over Christmas, they only started back on Monday so there won’t be runners for a while.

“I have 35 four-year-olds for this year. I cut back on the numbers that would have been here a couple of years ago. This is a nice number to have it is more manageable.”

DUNGARVAN makes a welcome return to point-to-point action this month following a two-year absence.

Supporters in the region will have double the cause to welcome its return on Sunday, January 22nd as the fixture will be run on the original layout that proved so popular at the Waterford track across a number of decades.

Recent renewals have seen the configuration alter notably, even taking place over a circle of eight circuit at one stage, however the upcoming fixture will see it’s original layout return for the first time since 2015.

“We are going back to the original track layout in Dungarvan over a mile round with the three laps,” fixture secretary Liam Carroll explained.

“Part of the land wasn’t available to us over the last couple of years so we had to change the layout but we are delighted to have the original track once again.

“The different layouts that we were having to use meant we had to go down the field and it was very far away from the hill where the spectators are. Now it will all be back in front of the hill.

“John Kiely has been very helpful and is still the main man. We work out of his yard when we are preparing the track and he has been the mainstay of the point-to-point for years and years.”

For its return, this year’s fixture will be run under the auspices of the Lismore Harriers in a change to previous years, with the course direction to be agreed between the Clerk of the Course and IHRB.

Point-to-point Ratings

NATIVE Speaker (93+) kicked off 2023 in style when he simply destroyed the opposition on his debut in what was a particularly strongly run maiden.

The departure of the game Drumcliff Bay at the final fence extended his winning margin to 20 lengths, such was the gap the pair had established back to their chasing rivals, but Barry O’Neill had only had to shake up the Court Cave gelding such was his superiority coming to the last to suggest he is well above average.

Keep Me Posted (98+) already had his Quakerstown performance enhanced when Ultimate Optimist won at Limerick and he looks to be a horse that could bring

up a sequence of wins, while Totowolfe (87+) produced a performance that had clearly been expected of him on the evidence of previous market support.

He made an immediate impression on his first start for Ian McCarthy and looks a track winner in waiting.

At Dromahane, Spindleberry (80+) hung on in a blanket three-way finish, before River Voyage (89+) stepped forward to win the final four-year-old maiden of 2022 having appeared to enjoy the staying test that was presented by conditions.