O’Neill and Bowe set pace again POINT-TO-POINT

THE point-to-point season began on Sunday at Castletowngeoghegan in Westmeath, and Wexford’s national champion rider and trainer from last season, Barry O’Neill and Colin Bowe, carried on where they had left off last June with an exciting win in the first.

This pair farmed the lucrative four-year-old maidens last season and they are at it again; O’Neill got a great tune out of Napoleon Blue (Beat Hollow-Myown) to get up by a head. Bowe will now be heading for the sales with this one.

O’Neill made it a double in the five- and six-year-old geldings’ maiden on board Jonathan Fogarty’s (Cleariestown) Flash The Steel (Craigsteel-Anna’s Melody), owned by Mary Fogarty. The winner stuck it out well to win by one and a half lengths.

Shane Fitzgerald got second for Michael Goff in the winners of two on Senators Glory, and Jamie Codd’s best was second in the Open race on Samanntom for Pat Doyle, Tipperary.

Racing next weekend is at Loughanmore, Co. Antrim, on Saturday, and Loughrea with the famous Galway Blazers on Sunday.

There was some disappointing news this week when last April’s Aintree Grand National winner with big Wexford point-to-point connections, One for Arthur, was ruled out for the season with a tendon injury.

Trainers Liam Kenny, Ballydarragh, Craanford, and Seán Thomas Doyle, Monbeg, Ballindaggin, are friends and they were at the sales five years ago and both were interested in the same horse. They agreed not to bid against each other, and Doyle secured the horse for a little over €30,000.

They agreed to toss for ownership, and the coin came down for Kenny, who took One For Arthur into training for his regular patron, Gorey hotelier, Paddy Redmond. The horse had five runs for Kenny in 2013 before eventually getting his head in front at the Killinick Harriers meeting at Lingstown.

After this he was sold on to trainer Lucinda Russell for £60,000 at the December Cheltenham sales. And the story reached its climax at Aintree last April when One for Arthur won the most famous race in the world for Russell and young jockey, Derek Fox. Sadly, he won’t now be defending his title next April.