THE eight Grade 1s of this weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival will not be able to overshadow what is traditionally one of the most anticipated afternoons in the point-to-point season, as tomorrow, the wraps are taken off the first of this year’s new crop of four-year-old point-to-pointers.

As has become the norm now, it is Ballinaboola and Bellharbour who have the honour of hosting the first four-year-old maiden races of the new calendar year, and the strong entry that both races have received illustrates the eagerness amongst both owners and handlers alike to hit the ground running.

Both races will get underway at 1 pm, with a very similar entry for the contests at both venues.

There are 29 four-year-olds entered at Bellharbour, one more than features at Ballinaboola, with 22 of the horses entered in both races.

Previously, these early February four-year-old maiden races were largely only populated by entries from a handful of stables, but with more and more handlers seeking to gain a share of the lucrative four-year-old buy-to-sell pie, it is encouraging to see that there are more handlers with horses ready to go at this early juncture.

In all, there are 19 different handlers with entries for this opening weekend of races in the age division, with the champion handler Colin Bowe best represented including a trio of horses, Kir, Korkoran and Klimt Madrik, that are owned by Walter Connors.

The first named is also a son of the late Muhtathir, which will offer many similarities to the now eight-time Grade 1 winner Envoi Allen, who started off his career in the same Ballinaboola race some six years ago. We will soon find out what this year will bring.

THE Champion bumper at Cheltenham is a race that Willie Mullins has proven to be the trainer to follow in, winning the Grade 1 contest a total of 12 times, with the point-to-point fields traditionally proving to be a good source of his riches.

From Florida Pearl, to Missed That, Champagne Fever, Briar Hill, Ferny Hollow and most recently Sir Gerhard, Mullins-trained pointers have proved their worth in the race.

After fellow ex-pointer, Fact To File, came up second best to A Dream To Share last year, Mullins could again rely on a pointing export to spearhead his team for the 2024 edition after Jasmin De Vaux put himself at the centre of the champion bumper picture with an impressive 15-length victory on his rules debut in Naas last Sunday.

Like his highly-rated stable companion, It’s For Me, who has been absent since defeating subsequent Grade 1 winner Caldwell Potter in a Punchestown maiden hurdle in November, he too started his career by winning the Easter Saturday four-year-old maiden at Loughanmore for Stuart Crawford.

After It’s For Me’s triumph in the 2022 edition of the four-year-old maiden on the lands of prominent owner Wilson Dennison, it was Jasmin De Vaux’s turn to triumph at the Antrim venue last year.

Hat-trick

The pressure will now be on the Larne trainer to complete the hat-trick with a similarly talented individual in this year’s renewal on March 30th.

While Jasmin De Vaux was in Crawford’s own colours for his Loughanmore success before being transferred to Simon Munir and Isaac Souede’s ownership, It’s For Me sported the double green silks in his point-to-point.

It was the same story with Mongibello, a leading contender for tomorrow’s Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Sires Hurricane Lane Irish EBF Mares I.N.H. Flat Race, as it was in Munir and Souede’s colours that she ran in a point-to-point for the Crawford team, finishing third at Oldtown last year.

That is a further stamp of approval for the point-to-point academy, that these leading owners and their racing manager Anthony Bromley, see the value of educating many of their three-year-old store purchases through point-to-pointing with Crawford.

Common sight

They are not alone in seeing that benefit for their young horses. Last year, the green and gold silks of J.P. McManus were a common sight in spring four-year-old maidens for the first time in a number of years, with Derek O’Connor entrusted with a number of his youngsters.

That initial crop included the Knockanard scorer No Flies On Him, who has since won his maiden hurdle at Leopardstown’s Christmas festival for Edward O’Grady, and that policy for McManus looks set to continue this year.

Five of the McManus family’s homebred four-year-olds have already received hunter certificates with O’Connor, with Goraibhmaithagat potentially the first to see action as he is entered at Bellharbour tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Brian Acheson had four-year-olds trained by Colin Bowe and Denis Murphy running during the autumn term, continuing an approach that he has taken in recent years.

That backing from three of the sport’s leading owners is a fine endorsement of point-to-pointing’s place in the wider National Hunt system.

DESPITE three fixtures taking place tomorrow, Sunday, Bellharbour hosts the only open contest of the weekend, with Ballyvodock staging a mares’ open and the winners’ race at Ballinaboola is the only non-maiden race to take place on that card.

It does make the seven entries that the Bellharbour race has attracted all the more disappointing, as it includes the champion mare La Feline, who is also doubly entered at Ballyvodock in the mares’ open, which attracted the larger entry.

Considering that each of last weekend’s three open races did not produce more than five runners, it would have been expected that the Bellharbour race would attract a greater quantity of entries as a result.

What tomorrow’s race may lack in numbers, it makes up for in quality, with Samcro potentially set to appear for just the second time this season following his more workmanlike return to action at Tinahely in November which was in contrast to any of his three wide-margin successes from last season.

The line-up against him in opposition in tomorrow’s contest could include Lifetime Ambition, a 152-rated chaser, Winged Leader, who can boast 17 career successes to his name, including 10 in open company, and last year’s winner Somptueux to suggest there is no shortage of quality.

Point-to-point ratings

THE five-year-old geldings’ maiden at Cragmore is likely a race to keep on the right side of going forward, with plenty of likeable types featuring in it to suggest it should produce a number of subsequent winners as the spring term continues.

Clondaw General (92+) came out on top in it, proving himself to be a strong stayer, as despite coming off the bridle on the run for the straight, he found plenty for pressure to have the race sewn up with a quicker jump two out.

Later on the card, Ramillies (115++) took apart his three rivals in a particularly impressive fashion, something that he is now making a habit of, while Battleoverdoyen (112+) marked his return to the pointing fields at Tyrella by getting the better of proven performers in the division to add depth to his performance.

At Dungarvan, Mozzies Sister (83+) had shown plenty of potential prior to being brought down on her debut at Lisronagh last year, and on her first start since, she proved to be in a league of her own on a stable debut.

She could be a horse capable of running up a string of successes in winners’ company before progressing to the track.