THOSE looking to get rid of the post-Cheltenham blues can do so at Durrow this afternoon, as it stages the first of three fixtures in the pointing fields this weekend.

Up until the Covid interruption in 2020, the Offaly venue typically staged the first of the season’s two-day fixtures.

However, since returning to the calendar last year with the Streamstown Harriers taking charge, it has been run as a single standalone fixture, and a number of the sport’s other traditional two-day fixtures have suffered an even worse fate.

The Killultagh, Old Rock and Chichester Hunt was disbanded in 2022, resulting in the loss of their two-day point-to-point at Largy, which last ran in that same year, whilst the two-day May point-to-point in Kinsale has not taken place since 2019 due to a disagreement over dates.

That leaves just three such two-day fixtures on the calendar at Loughanmore, Necarne and Ballingarry, and the net effect from the loss of these weekend fixtures is the additional opportunities that they served for horses that may not be as well served as others by the current programme book.

As an example, when Durrow was last scheduled to be run as a two-day fixture, it featured a six-year-old mares’ maiden, six-year-old geldings’ maiden, seven-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden, seven-year-old geldings’ maiden, adjacent maiden and ladies’ open, among additional opportunities for younger horses.

Two-day fixtures

Today, as a solo fixture, the mares’ maiden is a catch-all race for those aged five and upwards, with a similar scenario for the older geldings, which is a six-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden, highlighting the impact on the race programme, in particular for older horses, when two-day fixtures disappear.

In fact, this season, there are now no seven-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden races programmed, with only three six-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden races scheduled at any of the 64 fixtures that are scheduled from February to May in this busiest point of the campaign.

The situation is not much better in the seven-year-old and upwards category, with Ballingarry set to host the only such race for these horses between now and the end of the season.

The case can be made that as the number of older horses within point-to-pointing continues to decline significantly, the numbers are not there to justify standalone older races such as a seven-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden.

Admitting defeat

However, that stance could also be seen as admitting defeat in any efforts to try and stem the continued loss of older horses from the sport, as without suitable opportunities for these horses of a particular level to compete against those of a similar calibre, there is little incentive for their connections.

After all, at last Sunday’s fixture in Belclare, the seven-year-old and upwards maiden on the card produced the biggest field of any of the 23 races run in the pointing fields last weekend.

While the age group is far from the most commercial element of point-to-pointing, it is one in which there is a strong tradition, and it is hoped that those races in the category that have dropped off the programme with the loss of these two-day fixtures need to be found a replacement elsewhere in the fixture list.

THERE was a particularly unfortunate conclusion to the mares’ maiden at Bandon recently when three of the four starters refused at the final fence before the eventual winner, River Grainey, took a second attempt at it.

She successfully negotiated that fence to claim victory, with the runner-up, Hero In The Sky, who had initially pulled up, rejoining the race to claim the second position.

In all, the race took just under 10 minutes to complete, and the race day stewards took a dim view of the events, with the riders of the two horses that ultimately finished being handed three-day suspensions for breaching Regulation 33 (ii) (b), which states that a rider must pull up their horse whenever it has no more to give.

That incident occurred not far off six years to the day of a similar situation which took place at Ballyarthur, the video of which went viral online on a number of occasions, showing a negative view of the sport.

Tight control

In light of the attention that the Ballyarthur video received, the sport’s regulator wisely took the decision to keep a tight control on the video of the recent Bandon race.

However, this is a reactive measure, and it is surprising, given the negative attention that the 2018 incident generated, that a search of the regulations book does not generate any results for rules in relation to horses being prevented from continuing in a race after it has already refused at a fence.

Riders are banned from remounting a horse that they have parted company from during the race and continuing in it, as any rider that does do so will have their mount disqualified.

Expanding the rule to incorporate any scenarios where a horse has stopped in a race, be it refusing at a fence or being pulled up, would go some way to preventing similar scenarios from occurring in the future.

RECENT renewals of the spring four-year-old geldings’ maiden at Lingstown have been won by three of the leading Cheltenham Festival contenders during the week in Jalon D’Oudairies (2023), Gerri Colombe (2020), and Bravemansgame (2019).

This year’s edition arguably produced one of the more impressive four-year-old maiden winners that have come thus far in 2024 when Gentleman Toboot (95+) ran out an emphatic winner on debut.

Having been run to a good pace for the conditions, the race was effectively over as a contest soon after the home bend as he was able to pick up decisively off that gallop, powering to a 12-length victory in a time that was 19 seconds quicker than the day’s average.

There was final-fence drama in the mares’ equivalent that was won by Kingstown Queen (80+) with her two challenging rivals coming down, and the last also played a big role in the outcome of the four-year-old geldings’ maiden at Castlelands.

Here, Lon Chaney (93x) had just moved into the lead when unseating to hand the advantage to Kosac D’Oudairies (92+).

That followed the mares’ equivalent that was won by Future Prospect (84+), and it looks to have been a finish fought out by two above-average mares.

The quickest time on that card was clocked in the five and six-year-old geldings’ maiden despite the winner, Big Interest (94++), being heavily eased on the run-in.

Galloped

He galloped his rivals into the ground, with only one of his six rivals completing, and doing so a distance behind the winner. He looks to be a smart staying chaser in the making.

Pure Steel (92+) was well delivered to pounce late at Belclare and nab the strong-travelling Time Is A Thief, who had looked the likely winner coming away from the penultimate fence, as they enjoyed the best of the weekend ground, whilst at Kirkistown, Buckna (93+) had too many gears for his rivals, as he turned on the heat along the back straight before winning going away at the line.

There was a lot of raw potential on show with this performance, and he has all the hallmarks of a graded winner of the future, so don’t forget his name.