MAISEMORE PARK, DINGLEY, DARREN EDWARDS COMMENT

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Darren Edwards

I have penned this column in recovery mode, having recently returned from

Co. Cork, where the third running of the Anglo-Irish Riders’ International Point-to-Point Challenge took place. The challenge saw the four leading male and female riders from Great Britain face o� against our Irish counterparts. The event was not only a great social spectacle, but it was also an interesting insight into how the sport operates across the Irish Sea.

The Inch point-to-point, held at Ballyanthony, Tallow, was fundamentally the same as any UK meeting, although I have never been to a course with only fi ve fences on a circuit, nor where every race on the card was a maiden. Racing on a Wednesday afternoon was novel.

The racecard itself was nothing short of a small book, but without a contents page. The 108 pages seemed to contain advertisements for every other business in the county, which ranged from Ireland’s best-known studs to the local takeaway. Doubtless this generated some good income for the Killeagh Harriers.

Each race carried a purse of €1,000 (£790), with €700 to the winner, €200 to the second, and €100 to the third. This is only a little

short of some of our recognised Classic races.

There were races for four-, fi ve- and six-year-olds, split into mares and geldings, and fi nally a fi ve-year-old and over open maiden.

No horse — not even four-year-old mares — carried less than 11st 10lb (unless ridden by a novice rider), and all geldings carried 12st 1lb.

This was music to the ears of the UK men (notably Welsh/nearly Irish heavyweight John Mathias), although news on the day that the men would be riding the fi ve-year-old mares caused some anxiety.

The big advantage of this approach is that, generally, it allows the more experienced jockeys to ride the least experienced horses. With the emphasis on results and sale value, this is critical to the business model.

I am delighted to report the Anglos beat the Irish. Despite maestro Derek O’Connor taking the men’s challenge race for Ireland from Will Biddick and me, Gina Andrews kicked in the winner of the ladies’ challenge race, with Hannah Watson fi lling second for team GB ahead of Evanna McCutcheon.

Combined, these results gave us a greater points haul than the home team, ensuring the silverware returned back to the UK. H&H

Team GB hauls home the silverware

COMMENT

‘A minimum weight of 11st 10lb was music to the ears of

the UK men’

clear to triumph in the feature two-and-a-half mile mixed open.

Johnny Weatherby’s eight-year-old Decade Player had made all the running under Dale Peters, leading the fi eld for two miles and forging a lead of 20 lengths, but when the duo fell four from home, Warne surged ahead.

The 12-year-old by Bob Back is entered in both the Fox Hunters’ and the Topham at Aintree.

One of the most impressive performances of the day was by the Andrew Martin-trained Militarian (James Martin) in the 2m4f maiden for four-, fi ve- and six-year-old horses.

This six-year-old by Kayf Tara is half-brother to the Harry Fry-trained Hell’s Kitchen and looked to have a great deal of potential when beating joint-favourite Extreme Appeal (Johnny Bailey) by seven lengths.

The novice riders’ race also featured a runaway leader in the shape of Ballycarry under Catherine Adam. The pair surged past odds-on favourite Qoubilai, trained by Thomas Messenger and ridden by Lottie Crane, who faded in the approach to the last after making all the running.

The Gerald Bailey-trained Easythingsarebest (Tom McClorey) was the convincing winner of the restricted by a clear 10 lengths.

Owner Richard Russell was full of praise for Tom, who is substituting for the injured John Russell.

“Tom has been schooling the horse this week and he has been jumping really well. He gave him a lovely ride,” said Richard.

Will Thirlby partnered the Tim Thirlby-owned and trained Arkose to a comfortable victory in the hunt members’ race by fi ve lengths. H&H

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