RECENT weeks have provided more than their fair share of examples of the changing shape of the open lightweight division here.

Last Saturday, Wise Move gained his initial success at the highest level in the point-to-point fields when scoring at Ballysteen under his regular rider Joanna Walton.

Trained by John O’Donovan and his son Chris, the Shirocco gelding had only gained his breakthrough first career victory in a five-year-old geldings’ maiden at Tattersalls in late October on what was his initial outing for the father and son team.

But the subsequent six months have seen the six-year-old climb the ranks within the winners’ division before graduating into the open division when he chased home the season’s leading performer Winged Leader.

At Ballindenisk tomorrow, he could again cross paths with his Dromahane conqueror Millie B. Like him, she is a six-year-old, but perhaps even more notably, Tom Keating’s charge is already an open winner in what is her first season of racing, having made a winning debut at Moig South in late November.

More the norm

Their feats are becoming more of the norm. This season, for example, behind the season’s winning-most pointer, the aforementioned Winged Leader, seven horses have won four races, with four of that seven being horses that all started the season as maidens.

This is not a new phenomenon. Since the champion point-to-point title was introduced in 2012, Mr Bolt, High Stakes and Rocky’s Howya have been crowned champions in the same season that they won their maidens.

However, what this season, in particular, has thrown up has been the lowering age of those horses that are coming out on top in the open division.

There have been 61 open races run so far this season, but just 20 of them have been won by horses aged 10 or older.

When it is considered that the 10-year-old Winged Leader is responsible for six of those 20 successes, it highlights how the open division is becoming a younger horse’s game.

There are still some exceptions. Dr Robin popped up to win at Dromahane at the age of 14 a fortnight ago, while The West’s Awake and Wrong Direction have won this season at the age of 13.

But they are now very much the exceptions, and are outnumbered in the winner’s enclosure by their younger rivals, with the likes of Dul Ar Aghaidh, Hitak, Ferns Lock, It’s On The Line, and Maid On The Moon all having won autumn opens at the age of just six.

THE programme of races at the Punchestown Festival lends itself well to point-to-point connections having a successful week on a big stage, and this year’s Festival started off with what would have been a particularly popular result. That came courtesy of the victory for Knockiel Synge in the Kildare Hunt Club Ladies Cup.

The addition of a new course over these natural jumps at Knockanard has bolstered the banks racing scene between the flags in the past 15 months. It was, therefore, fitting that this year’s Ladies Cup prize went to a horse that featured prominently at both Lingstown and Knockanard this season, with Peter Flood’s charge having really found his niche over those obstacles in recent months.

Having finished third and fourth on his two visits to the Killinick’s venue this year, the 10-year-old was holding leading claims when exiting at the last at Knockanard in February.

He carried the silks of Hugh Mulvihill in those outings, as well as when winning a hunt race at Castletown-Geoghegan recently, and he will undoubtedly have obtained a great kick out of collecting that historic trophy in the winner’s enclosure on Tuesday.

Mulvihill has been a long-standing supporter of point-to-point racing, particularly in the midlands, since he started in his role of the Clerk of the Scales in the region in the mid-1970s, a role he has continued in ever since.

The sport relies so heavily upon volunteers like him, and it was fitting that his long-standing support was rewarded on a big stage.

Point-to-point Ratings

THE Doyle brothers have really struck top gear with their respective strings of late, as Sean, Donnchadh and Cormac have sent out 14 winners in the four and five-year-old maiden divisions across the past weekends.

Their haul of five four-year-old maiden victories last weekend included some star performers. Classical Creek (95+) featured among them after his debut success at Tattersalls. Having jumped the penultimate fence alongside the form horse of the race, he dismissed that challenge, as his rider, Jack Hendrick, was never forced to resort to his stick. To open up by 10 lengths on a form horse on spring ground was notable.

Donnchadh Doyle had won both divisions of the four-year-old maidens 24 hours earlier at Loughanmore, and the pair looked smart. Talk To The Man (92+) is value for more than the winning margin having only had to be ridden out hands and heels to win by three and a half lengths, while his stablemate Theflyingking (94+) did not have his race run to suit. His maiden was steadily run, the closing stages turning into something of a sprint. He hit top gear coming to the last, to be in command on the run-in. At Borris House, Matty Flynn O’Connor introduced another smart five-year-old as Sporting Glance (94+) cruised into the lead approaching the home bend, and it was a case of how far he would win by. At Dromahane, Ma Jacks Hill (92+) looks to have been well bought as a stayer for the future.