Wave of young riders make their names this season and big operators not afraid to give them chances

Five riders in particular will be ruing the May 21 finish to this year’s point-to-point season, the earliest conclusion to a non-Covid interrupted campaign for many years.

Last weekend’s final two days of action saw a quintet of riders – Frankie Murphy, Luke Carberry, Sophie Carter, Jack Sutton and James Cousins – winning for the first time. Now they will have to wait until the autumn for more opportunities. 

They were five of 31 riders to achieve such a feat this season, matching the 2022 figure and surpassing any other year this decade. That evidence tells us that now is as good a time as ever to be a young rider entering the sport.