How pointing is learning to blend tradition and innovation

It was good to see Garry Clermont and Mervyn Woodward reach the winner’s enclosure at recent meetings.

Garry (a horse) won a maiden hurdle at Ludlow, while Merv (a human) rode the inaugural winner at a new venue in Devon called Dunsmore. Each win expressed the best of two areas of British point-to-pointing.

The Ludlow win paid a compliment to the sport because earlier this year four-year-old Garry Clermont won a maiden point-to-point at Bangor on debut and was subsequently sent by trainer Fran Nimmo to Tattersalls’ Cheltenham February Sale, where he was knocked down for £150,000 to Jonjo O’Neill.