THE eight-year wait for an Irish-trained winner of the Randox Aintree Foxhunters came to an end last week with Its On The Line proving to be another example of his trainer Emmet Mullins’ impressive approach to creative campaigning.

His four-and-a-half-length victory over Bennys King was the first Irish success in the race since Jamie Codd guided On The Fringe to victory for Enda Bolger in 2016. Fellow Irish raider Annamix completed a good result for the visiting team by taking third.

The success was all the more notable as the son of Presenting is only seven, and in winning over the National fences last Friday, he came the youngest horse to do so in the Aintree Foxhunters since Spartan Missile some 45 years earlier in 1979, and just the fourth seven-year-old winner since 1947.

Mullins is no stranger to trend-busting feats over the National fences, as the Grand National success of the similarly aged seven-year-old Noble Yeats two years earlier proved.

With Its On The Line, it was his second attempt at the fences, having become a rare casualty these days of the remodelled Bechers Brook 12 months earlier at the age of just six.

Traditional

It’s fair to say that not much of his career to date could be classed as traditional. Mullins picked him out from the catalogue of a ThoroughBid online auction in March 2022 after he finished fourth in a five-year-old maiden at Ballycrystal.

The £8,000 fee he commanded that day proved to be quite the bargain buy. Despite remaining a maiden, he was immediately switched into hunter chase company, winning back-to-back races at Cork and Tipperary in the weeks that followed his stable debut.

The rest is history, as they say, with his CV now also featuring two second-place finishes in consecutive editions of the Cheltenham Festival Hunter Chase and a Punchestown Champion Hunter Chase title.

That is quite the collection for a seven-year-old in this division, and there is still more to come, it would seem, with Mullins confirming after the race that he was likely to stay hunter chasing.

Interestingly, Its On The Line was joined in the Aintree Foxhunters by his year younger stablemate Romeo Magico.

That Affinisea gelding is already a dual hunter chase winner this season, and while he may have beenbeaten some 30 lengths in sixth, he has age on his side to suggest that he could be another that will reap the benefits of Mullins’ creative campaigning.

650 entries begin vital weeks for pointers and sales

HANDLERS wasted little time in their efforts to play catch-up last weekend for the previous week’s near washout of fixtures. Over 200 horses ran, producing divided races at all three of last weekend’s venues.

However, the weather woes have not yet quite been banished to the rear-view mirror, as a course change was announced earlier this week for tomorrow’s Ballymacad Foxhounds fixture.

Their course at Oldcastle was inspected on Monday and found to be unfit for racing, but the hunt will now make use of the track at Tattersalls, with the fixture being transferred to the Ratoath venue.

It looks like there will be another particularly busy weekend between the flags this week, with the four popular venues of Curraghmore, Dromahane, Loughanmore and Tattersalls attracting a total of 650 entries.

The commercially key four and five-year-old maiden horses are the key drivers of those above-average entries, with handlers keen to begin belatedly unveiling their smart spring prospects.

The weather has delayed this significantly, and the commercial realities of these weather difficulties have been evident of late.

This was referenced in the comment from Goffs UK Managing Director Tim Kent after last week’s Aintree Sale, which saw turnover drop by 30%.

He stated: “Today’s sale had plenty of highlights, including a top price of £300,000, but the results also reflect a difficult few weeks for us and our vendors.

“The inclement weather has meant a large number of point-to-point meetings have been postponed or cancelled, so it has been very difficult to compile a catalogue to meet the high expectations for which this sale has become renowned.”

The wider statistics reflect this. Over 30 fewer horses have been sold at public sales this season, but more significantly, close to €6 million less has been spent on pointers compared with the same point in the season 12 months ago.

That highlights the importance of the coming weeks of racing for the industry as they seek to limit the overall damage, particularly with the start of the store sales now just over four weeks away.

LONGHOUSE MUSIC became the first horse in nine years to break the 20-winner mark when she breezed to a 12-length success at Ballycahane in March 2020, and the wait for the latest horse to break that notable milestone looks like it may not be half as long.

Winged Leader has been steadily adding to his haul of winners in recent weeks, with his emphatic victory in last Sunday’s Barbour Cup at Castletown-Geoghegan bringing his tally of wins between the flags to 18.

More immediately, that fifth successive victory continues a winning run which began at Farmacaffley in late February, and has taken in subsequent races at Belclare, Portrush, Quakerstown, prior to his last win last Sunday, leaving him as the only five-time winner this season.

He could be back in action this weekend, as the 10-year-old is among the 11 entries for the open in Tattersalls tomorrow afternoon, which could take him a further step closer to joining an exclusive group of point-to-pointers.

If he were to break the 20-winner barrier in the coming weeks, he would become the second horse that his handler David Christie has guided into the 20-winner club after Top Twig retired in 2011 following his 21st career winner between the flags at Necarne.

Point-to-point ratings

A NUMBER of last weekend’s four-year-old maiden races had few hiding places, with strong gallops set in several races that resulted in few finishers.

Fruit De Mer (95+) was one of just two finishers in the first division at Ballycrystal, but swiftly dismissed the form horse of the race by 16 lengths to ensure it was a particularly impressive debut.

The pace steadied notably for the second division, where Kara Sacre (94++) came from behind to easily defeat horses with previous form and add depth to the performance.

There were just two finishers in each of the four-year-old races in Castletown-Geoghegan 24 hours later. On The Bayou (93+) was first up proving himself a likely smart staying prospect, while Koktail Brut (93+) was left clear by the fall of the persistent Hillwalk (92x) at the last. Drop A Threat (94+) justified his six-figure purchase price as a three-year-old with a faultless debut where he was in a class of his own. He looks a very exciting recruit.

At Dromahane, Captains Speech (94++) found things very easy as he cruised to a very impressive debut success. He hit the line full of running, and at that, looks to have had plenty more in the tank. He seems to be another name to note going forward. Life Goes On (91+) picked up best in the more tactical second division where six lengths covered the first six finishers.

Myfriendcooper (83+) outbattled the favourite as the front pair pulled 15 lengths clear in the four-year-old mares’ maiden. Dawn Miss (86++) achieved the highest performance rating of the season for a five-year-old mare.