CORK trainer Terence O’Brien believes the summer jumps scene will be intensely competitive due to a backlog of horses who missed their intended spring festival targets at Fairyhouse and Punchestown.

Initially it was mooted by Horse Racing Ireland that it would be flat racing only for the first month of racing’s resumption but the jumps is set to return at Limerick on June 22nd. There are 22 National Hunt fixtures between that date and the end of July, which is five more than the same period last season.

The summer jumps scene is usually less competitive than the action in the jumps season proper but O’Brien thinks that may be less the case this time around.

“I’d imagine the big handicaps will probably go up a good few pounds,” he said. “I’m bringing back Articulum and entering him in the Galway Plate. I’d imagine there’s plenty of others saying the same thing. Horses they would’ve aimed at the spring festivals and didn’t get there, I’d imagine summer festivals will be a lot more competitive.

Spring festivals

“I had a few horses I was looking forward to for those spring festivals. They were a big loss, Punchestown and Fairyhouse.

“Our Roxanne was starting to go well. Articulum missed Cheltenham but he was supposed to go back to Fairyhouse and probably on to Punchestown. Lakemilan was back and she was going to go to Punchestown, and I’d a couple more that were ready to go.

“We had to leave a couple of them off for a few weeks and once we heard we might get something back, we brought them back in. We brought a few back in for Galway, so we’re hoping to hit the ground running.”

The point-to-point season was another victim of Covid 19 when it was cancelled indefinitely on March 24th , and O’Brien was one of many who would’ve hoped to get a few of his future stars out on the track.

“The big effect was the point-to-pointers, I had five or six four-year-olds that I’d be involved in myself. It was one of the first big ones for me. The season was over and I was hoping to sell one or two of them. That’s gone on the back burner now, for me and plenty of other people I presume,” he said.