A 28-length winner was certainly an impressive way to bring down the curtain on the 2023 four-year-old season, as Colin Motherway’s Good N’ Kind was the 132nd winner of a four-year-old maiden during the year.

It is a high benchmark for the division to try and continually maintain each year, but the early evidence suggests that the 2019 foal crop that populated four-year-old maiden races throughout 2023 looks set to do just that.

Just 10 months after making his debut at Knockanard in February for Mick Goff, Jango Baie became the first Grade 1 winner to emerge from the year’s four-year-old maiden division when he landed the Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on St Stephen’s Day for Nicky Henderson.

The former British champion trainer also has the ante-post market leader for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Jeriko Du Reponet, under his care, a Kirkistown winner for Colin McKeever, while it is another exponent of the 2023 four-year-old pointing division in Jalon D’Oudairies that tops the Champion Bumper market.

That trio have the connection of all being French-breds, and French imports made further inroads into the domination of their Irish counterparts in the four-year-old maiden leaderboard.

Despite 10 extra races taking place in the age category in 2023 compared with 2022, the number of Irish-bred winners fell by 10 from 99 to 89, with the number of French-bred winners growing by the same number.

Tellingly, from winning 83% of all four-year-old maiden races in 2022, the share of Irish-bred successes last year fell to 67%, a drop of 16 percentage points.

Significant upturn

French-breds have a lot of catching up to do, but their share of four-year-old successes in 2023 rose by seven percentage points in the year to 21%, with British-breds also enjoying a significant upturn in fortunes, increasing their share of victories in the age division from a mere 3% to a more notable 12%.

The likes of Jack Hobbs and Telescope have contributed to the changing fortunes of British breeders, but encouragingly for breeders on this side of the Irish Sea, it was Irish resident stallions that topped the charts.

Doyen and Walk In The Park were responsible for the greatest number of four-year-old winners in 2023, with the pair both siring seven individual winners.

The former may have retired from the breeding sheds in 2022, but his impact in 2023 remained as strong, with Denis Murphy in particular striking gold with his off-spring, sending out Queensbury Boy, Presenting Doy and the mare Break My Soul to success throughout the year.

Three is also the number of four-year-old winners by Walk In The Park that the champion handler Colin Bowe saddled, as the Grange Stud stallion matched sales success with results between the flags.

The Coolmore National Hunt operation can also lay claim to having one of the two stallions to produce six four-year-old winners during the 2023 calendar year, with The Beeches Stud resident Soldier Of Fortune. His successes were undoubtedly headlined by the impressive Lingstown scorer Son Of Anarchy.

Unfortunately, like Doyen, Mount Nelson, who also sired six four-year-old winners, is no longer active in the breeding sheds, but he undoubtedly made an impact in his short time at Boardsmill Stud.

A further two stallions, Getaway and Jukebox Jury, each sired five individual four-year-old maiden winners, whilst Affinisea, Arctic Cosmos, Champs Elysees, Jack Hobbs, Kingston Hill, Malinas and Milan were each responsible for four winners in the age division last year.

In the sales ring, 2023 might have ended with two stallions dominating at the foal sales; however, in the pointing fields, the picture was all the more varied, as there were no fewer than 59 different stallions who featured on the scoreboard in the four-year-old maiden division.

But the falling share of success in 2023 for Irish-bred horses in this key division is one that breeders will be hoping is reversed when the new year of four-year-old maiden races gets underway in just three weeks’ time.

Point-to-point ratings

MANATEE Du Brizais (89+) made light work of the climb to the line at Ballindenisk last Sunday as he built upon the promise of his run at Boulta a month earlier, where he was still in the shake-up when exiting at the penultimate fence in the race ultimately won by Rosscahill.

Having to be ridden into the bend out of the back straight on his latest outing, it was undoubtedly in the closing stages that he was seen to best effect, as he turned what might have seemed likely to be a hard-fought victory two-out, into a very comfortable success at the line by finding again at the last as his rivals began to tire.

Tougher battle

His stablemate, Diamond Nora (79+), ultimately had a tougher battle as the front pair were in a league of their own in a race that likely lacked depth outside of them.

Jumping proved to be a real asset for the all-the-way leader, who was brave enough to pick up again when briefly challenged early on the run-in, having raced clear of the field for much of the race.

The open saw The Jam Man (109+) complete a stable hat-trick at the fixture, justifying strong market confidence in the process.

To do so with recent course winner Dinny Lacey in the line-up was significant, and whilst it was a first success for the now 11-year-old since his 2020 Troytown Chase triumph, he is a horse that could well strike up a run of victories now.

At Tinahely, Locken Lady (76+) came from off the pace to win going away in the three-way finish to the five-year-old mares’ maiden.

The geldings equivalent was a more strongly run affair, with Admiral Stewart (87+) seeming to benefit from a change of tactics to take a big step forward from his Ballindenisk debut.

Held up on his initial outing, he raced from the front on Sunday, finding generously for pressure.