BALL D’Arc, who won the Grade A Bar One Racing Dan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse last Sunday, is just one of the latest horses to progress from winning their maiden at the Co Clare Harriers’ point-to-point in Bellharbour to racecourse success.

Yes, the ‘double l’ has been confirmed by the local organisers who, this season, are celebrating 200 years of racing at the seaside track. The meeting didn’t always take place exactly where it does now but that won’t stop the February 5th fixture being heralded as a double-century birthday.

In recent times this point-to-point has also produced Cheltenham’s 2016 Listed Pertemps Network Final winner Mall Dini, who claimed his maiden first time out at the Co Clare venue a year earlier, the promising bumper performer Burren Life, who held a two-length lead when falling at the final fence in the four-year-old maiden there last season, and Way Back Then who, second in the five-year-old maiden at Bellbarbour last year, made his only other public appearance a winning one when landing a bumper at Ludlow in November.

That Robin Des Champs gelding was owned and trainer by John Costello whose family has been synonymous with point-to-pointing in the Banner county for many years.

A look back further into the history of the meeting will be carried in this column next Saturday.

There are plans afoot to celebrate the occasion as a family fun day as well as a point-to-point with plenty of entertainment for children.

There will also be a dog show during the afternoon so start brushing and powdering the pooches who will need to be given €2 for each entry!