WHERE are all the older maiden horses? That is the question that many people have been asking in recent weeks as the new point-to-point season has got underway with disappointing numbers in the division.

The trend of recent weeks has continued into this weekend’s action in the pointing fields.

Despite three fixtures being programmed, there is effectively just one older maiden across the three venues this weekend, with the novice riders’ older maiden at Tinahely tomorrow afternoon.

Today’s card in Curraghmore features a five-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden, where all bar three of the 13 entries are five-year-olds, while the finale at Tattersalls tomorrow is a five-year-old and upwards unplaced maiden. Again, it is five-year-olds who dominate this particular contest, accounting for seven of the eight entries.

Despite that lack of competition for horses within the older maiden division from the other venues this weekend, the fact that there are only eight entries for the race at Tinahely, which also carries the €800 INHSC bonus prize, has to be considered as worrying as we reach the fourth weekend of the new campaign.

Poor turnouts

That follows a largely continuing trend of poor turnouts in the age group so far this season. The older maiden races at Portrush, Loughrea and Peppard’s Castle were three-runner affairs, with Loughanmore only marginally better with four runners.

There was some hope at Umma House last Sunday when all seven of the horses entered were declared to run but after a promising start to the season when the older maiden at Castletown-Geoghegan produced 10 runners, subsequent races have, in most cases, not built on that.

Indeed, six of the eight horses entered in Tinahely tomorrow have already run this season, suggesting there is no immediate sign of the situation improving to any great extent.

The challenges are not solely confined to the older maiden division. The five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden category has also struggled to produce respectable field sizes in recent weeks, with the average number of runners in that division standing at just five after seven fixtures.

There are good opportunities to be found in these races at present, and owners and trainers of track maidens would certainly be encouraged to consider them for the weeks ahead.

THE Waterford Foxhounds were struck with particularly bad luck last season, with weather woes impacting both their autumn and spring fixtures at Curraghmore.

Their pre-Christmas fixture in early December last year had to be cancelled due to ground conditions, but they have move forward in the autumn calendar for this year, with today’s fixture kickstarting action on the Cork and Waterford circuit for the new season.

The decision has been rewarded with a healthy entry of 106, and the open lightweight race on the card has the potential of seeing the clash of the second and third-place finishers from last season’s Champion Hunter Chase at the Punchestown festival.

Six and a half lengths separated Lifetime Ambition and Lonesome Boatman back in early May, as they chased home the season’s top hunter chaser, It’s On The Line, in the most coveted domestic prize in the category.

Lonesome Boatman - one of the interesting prospects for the months ahead \ Healy Racing

For Lonesome Boatman, that third-place finish at a starting price of 50/1, was the culmination of a campaign in which he was surely one of the season’s most improved performers.

During a five-run spell with Grade 1-winning trainer Martin Brassil, running in the colours of leading owners Sean and Bernadine Mulryan, he had chased home the previously Grade 2-placed Desir Du Large in a Galway maiden hurdle back in 2021.

Competitive action

However, after a two-year absence, the Jukebox Jury gelding returned to competitive action last season when debuting for new connections, Araglen-based handler Sean Allen, and he held every chance prior to falling at the final fence in an older maiden at Lisronagh.

Compensation was swiftly attained three weeks later in Lingstown, before connections elected to bypass winners’ company and instead jump straight into open lightweights.

Successive victories followed at that level in Tallow and Castlelands prior to his tremendous Punchestown effort.

That was a remarkable campaign to go from an older maiden success in late November to being placed in the Champion Hunter Chase, and as he heads into his first full campaign within the open lightweight and hunter chase division, he must certainly rank as one of the interesting prospects for the months ahead.

MAXINE O’Sullivan was the first female rider to visit the coveted number one slot in the winner’s enclosure this season when she guided David Christie’s Ramillies to victory in the ladies’ open at Peppard’s Castle last Sunday.

It marked a welcome and successful return to the pointing fields for O’Sullivan who had only returned to race-riding earlier in the month following a back injury sustained in May.

The reigning champion between the flags, a title that she shared last season with Susie Doyle, this could be a notable campaign for the Cork native, as she has now been crowned champion lady rider seven times – 2010, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Those title successes leave her just one title short of matching the former rider-turned-trainer Liz Doyle, who is currently the most decorated champion in the division.

The Wexford native claimed the champion ladies’ prize in the pointing fields on eight occasions between 1992 and 2004, a milestone that will be in O’Sullivan’s sights this season.

Point-to-point Ratings

High hopes for Hustle

THE four-year-old maiden division has been brimming full of impressive performances over the course of the opening three weekends of the season, and that trend continued last weekend, with Colin Bowe taking the wraps off a particularly exciting prospect at Umma House on Sunday.

Skylight Hustle (95++) was the horse in question, and although his debut came in a race that was run to a good gallop throughout, he found things remarkably easy, breezing to the front along the back straight and immediately stretching the field out.

Umma House unveiled a nice winner in Skylight Hustle \ Healy Racing

It was particularly notable that as his rivals faltered from this point, there was no letup in the gallop that he maintained, as he won with a lot more in hand than the three-length winning margin may suggest, and he will head to the track with high hopes.

Unfortunate

On the previous afternoon, Jonathan Fogarty, who had saddled the runner-up to Skylight Hustle at Umma House, was very unfortunate not to collect the four-year-old geldings’ maiden prize at Loughanmore.

His Major League (96x) was in the process of creating a big impression before crashing out at the last, handing a fortunate victory to Race To Base (88+). He had to battle for victory on the run-in, but the front pair did pull ten lengths clear of the remainder to suggest he still could be smart, while the mares’ equivalent produced two winners of note in Blue Eyed Girl (83++) and Glory Be To Sea (85+).

At Pepperd’s Castle, it was always going to be challenging for the riders with their first chance to ride the course coming in the all-important four-year-old maiden, which turned into a blanket finish that was won narrowly by Island Bridge (89+).