How Honeysuckle's success became a catalyst for an explosion in depth of point-to-point mares

Point-to-pointing could scarcely have enjoyed a more luminous advert for the calibre of mares currently emerging from the sector of late than Honeysuckle.

In the five years that followed her emphatic 15-length debut success at Dromahane in April 2018, the Sulamani-sired mare amassed 13 top-level successes, a haul that included back-to-back Champion Hurdles at Cheltenham in 2021 and 2022, and a trio of triumphs in the Irish equivalent from 2020 to 2022.

Even in those five years since she made her competitive bow for Mark O’Hare and Gerry Cosgrave, the number of mares that have followed in her footsteps has exploded. At the end of last season, the number of four-year-old mares with an active hunter certificate was up 52 per cent on 2018. This translates as an extra 80 mares in the four-year-old age group, and interestingly, the number of races for this division has increased slightly.

A total of 23 four-year-old mares’ maiden races have been scheduled for the 2024 spring campaign, which is just two more than the number of races programmed for this category in the same 2018 term. The net effect is a deepening of the division, the results of which have been evident at recent public auctions.

At last month’s November sale at Cheltenham, four-year-old mares accounted for the top two lots, with the Umma House victor Piper Park commanding the headline top-lot perch following a final bid of £205,000 from Tom Lacey. The more recent Newbury sale again highlighted the star power of mares, with the £200,000 that Gavin Cromwell forked out for Walter Connors’ homebred Half Past Tipsy leaving her as the joint-top lot alongside The Bluesman.

Admittedly, their positions as top lots have been aided by a large proportion of the leading geldings changing hands privately this season, but the regularity with which four-year-old pointing mares now command six-figure sums underlines the confidence that buyers have in the continued strength within the division.

Fittingly, in the week that Apple Away, the most recent Grade 1-winning mare to graduate from the pointing fields, again graced the winner’s enclosure, Friday evening’s sale of point-to-pointers at Cheltenham will see a further 11 four-year-old mares come to the market with recent Irish pointing form, the largest number since this particular sale was first run under the Tattersalls banner in 2016. There's a lot to be said for equine equality.

Weekend fixture

Saturday

Kirkistown, first race 12.00

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