AS the 2023/2024 point-to-point season kicks off in the northern region on Saturday, October 5th, with the Mid-Antrim meeting at Toomebridge, owners and handlers are reminded that hunter certs have to be lodged with the IHRB by close of business on Monday week, September 16th.

If you’re going to start your season a week later, when the Route run at Portrush, then you have until close of business on Monday, September 23rd, to lodge the certs.

Don’t be late because not even a Superhero, such as Spider Man below, will be able to do anything for you.

Spider Man

This isn’t actually the real Spider Man competing at the recent Saintfield Horse Show but rather the region’s leading amateur Deckie Lavery on board a smart grey gelding belonging to the East Down’s joint-Master and secretary Donna Quail.

She purchased the now six-year-old last September from his Co Meath breeder Gene Ormiston.

A reminder, if needed, that the leading rider in the region last season was Noel McParlan who partnered 20 winners. It was his fourth time to win the title.

I MET a great number of people I hadn’t seen for ages last Friday at the Musgrave NI meeting at Down Royal where I had a runner in the three-mile handicap hurdle – enough said.

Among them were racecourse and racing officials, bookmakers, jockeys, owners and trainers – all that one would expect.

I was caught off guard however by two sisters from the world of showing, Michelle and Corinne Robb, one of whom, I was begging a light from for one of my half-cigarettes when she recognised me.

She was the one with the 50th birthday badge and big plans for a night of partying!

THERE were a couple of winners with cross border connections at last Friday’s Musgrave NI meeting at Down Royal such as the Fast Company five-year-old Yokkell who landed the Hovis Mares Maiden Hurdle on her jumping debut.

The five-time flat winner is trained in Co Meath by John McConnell for Cookstown’s Seamus Devlin. [See photo p. 32].

McConnell and jockey Alex Harvey doubled up in the three-mile Pilgrim’s Handicap Hurdle when the 10/1 shot Dinoland saw off the 11/4 favourite Beggars Rock by two and a half lengths.

The French-bred gelding, a six-year-old by Doctor Dino, runs for a foursome of McConnell, Nigel O’Hare, Mark Devlin and Philip Smith.

Winner

The previous day, at Navan, O’Hare and Devlin had a winner in partnership with Kabin Racing and John Donnelly when the Gavin Cromwell-trained Transcendental justified 11/8 favouritism by three and three-quarter lengths. Also winning at Navan was the Andy Oliver-trained Northern Sonas.

Back to Down Royal where while it looked to the non-connected that they might have to wait a while before celebrating, there was no delaying the whoops and cheers of the Jinxs Link team following that eight-year-old Dylan Thomas gelding’s neck win in the Kerry Foods Handicap Hurdle. The chesnut is trained in Drumbilla, Co Louth, by Michael Rice for Patrick McCooey.

THE band of successful Donegal-born jockeys increased by one last Saturday at the Curragh where 16-year-old Patrick McGettigan recorded his first win on his fourth ride.

The Letterkenny native is apprenticed to Johnny Murtagh and it was on the yard’s King Thistle, in the seven-furlong nursery, that McGettigan made his welcome career breakthrough.

Before getting stuck into those jockeys partnering winners here and in Britain, mention must be made of another Donegal-born rider, Martin Harley, who it was good to see landing a winner on the Sunshine Coast in Australia on Wednesday just past.

There were wins on the flat here for Luke McAteer at Navan on Thursday last and for Dylan Browne McMonagle at Gowran on Tuesday while, over jumps, Simon Torrens was on the mark at Wexford last Friday.

On the level across the water, Darragh Keenan rode a winner at Lingfield on Saturday, at Brighton on Monday and at Chepstow on Tuesday. Oisin Orr visited the winner’s enclosure at Thirsk last Friday and at Newcastle on Tuesday. On the National Hunt front, Brian Hughes partnered his 18th winner of the campaign at Newton Abbot on Saturday.

On the breeding front, there was a win at Salisbury last Friday for the two-year-old Belardo gelding Bownder, who was bred by Brian Kennedy out of the Oratorio mare City Vaults Girl, and at Bath on Wednesday for the five-year-old Galileo Gold mare Endofastorm who was bred by Tom Foy out of the Polish Precedent mare Red Fuschia.

The colours of Randox’s Peter FitzGerald were carried to victory at Gowran on Tuesday by the Henry de Bromhead-trained Marakesh.

IF you find yourself winning a few bob backing a winner or two today, you might think about donating to Adrienne Stuart and Raymond Bready’s fundraising skydive in aid of Air Ambulance NI.

You can do so on their JustGiving page.