IT’S been a great season for Sam Curling. He trained Angels Dawn to win at Cheltenham and he sold the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Marine Nationale.

On home soil the Cashel trainer has had seven track winners, which is a real bonus as his main stock- in-trade is point-to-pointing. Between the flags, Sam has had 20 winners this term and that puts him just five behind perennial champion, Colin Bowe. You can’t do much better than that.

Speaking of bonuses, Sam trained two winners of the Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Scheme €5,000 bonus in March. Better still, he owns one of the winners himself and didn’t realise he had an extra five grand coming his way until after the race.

“It’s a great incentive,” he told us this week, speaking from Aintree where he was due to offer two fillies for sale at Thursday’s sale. “We’ve had a lot of success with mares though there is no real reason for that. I suppose we buy a lot of fillies as you can get a bit of value and there is a good race programme for them. Fillies with form are becoming more popular too when you are selling them in England.”

Sam has certainly done very well with mares in point-to-points. He trained Longhouse Music to win 13 races in the 2018-’19 season, which saw her crowned Champion Mare and Joint-Champion Horse. La Feline (eight wins) did exactly the same for Sam last season.

Both of those champions were largely kept away from the racecourse when they were in their pointing pomp, so it pays to take note when Sam decides to give one a track outing.

The first of Sam’s €5,000 bonus winners in March was Della Casa Lunga, a €15,000 purchase at the 2021 Goffs Land Rover Sale. “Fergal O’Neill of Direct Bloodstock bought her and he sold her to me after she ran in a few bumpers.

“The race she won in Leopardstown last month was a qualifier for the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish EBF Final at Punchestown, and that’s where she runs next. She’s going well too so we’re looking forward to it, even though she has a penalty to carry. At least she has the mares’ allowance.”

Sam’s second bonus winner in March was Troubled Times, a seven-year-old mare bred in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, by owner Willie Cleary. “She’s the first horse Willie has had with me and she has done very well, winning two bumpers – including a listed bumper at Gowran – and now a maiden hurdle in Naas,” Sam said.

The Naas run was her first outing in six months so there should be more to come. “She could also run at Punchestown, maybe in a handicap hurdle, and she will probably stay going for the summer.”

Of course Sam is also looking forward to seeing Marine Nationale run in a Grade 1 novice hurdle at Punchestown. As has been well documented, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner was in training with Sam when Covid disrupted racing and he was sold privately that summer to Barry Connell.

It’s possible Sam could also have a horse for the Goffs Punchestown Sale. He has three going to next week’s Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale. “We’ve sold everything we’ve taken to the sales so far this season. I’ve never seen the market so strong at all levels.”

Sam has around 70 horses in training at peak times and is hoping to stock up again at the upcoming store sales. “Fillies aren’t as cheap as they were a few years ago. Everyone is buying them now, all the point-to-point trainers too,” he said.

“I always look for a bit of pedigree in a filly, that’s important. When I inspect them I am looking for a filly with a nice step and a bit of strength. That’s very important for point-to-points.”

The Defender, Derby and Doncaster sales will all be on Sam’s radar in the coming months. He also hopes to have a few runners during the summer and, who knows, he might win another €5,000 Weatherbys ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus too.