THE LOCAL point-to-point scene continues to set a strong pace with the third meeting of the month being staged in the south-east, this time at Lingstown for the Wexford Hunt.

With the track drying out noticeably, the original entry of 119 was always likely to suffer, and so it was with only 72 declarations. This left us with a six-race card and no divisions, a total contrast to the last day here.

The Wexford Hunt committee should be complimented on their organisation of the meeting as it seemed to go off particularly well. The one negative point was the quality of race commentary at the track.

With only six races to call, serious mistakes were made on a number of occasions, including calling the winner of one race home when in fact that horse was actually fourth while forgetting the second horse home in another race totally. I have no idea who has responsibility for this in the greater scheme of things but it needs to be corrected for future meetings.

Barry O'Neill got the day off to a great start when taking the first two contests and consolidating his lead in the national novice riders' championship. With only nine declarations from an original entry of 20, the four-year-old Maiden resulted in a very tight finish with victory going to 'Promising Anshan'.

This four-year-old by 'Anshan' came through at the last to take over from the leaders, ' The Rodeo Clown' and 'Samson Witness'. With a neck separating the first two home, the Seán Doyle-trained winner will most likely be seen at the Cheltenham sales.

Speaking in the parade ring, the winning trainer said 'he is owned by my brother, Donnchadh, and we think a lot of him'. The complexion of this race changed a couple of times as the favourite, 'Blinding Lights', ran out under Jamie Codd at the third fence, while 'Samsons Witness', who stayed on to finish third, did not handle the last fence well and but for that he might well have had a greater say in the result.

A close finish was also the order of the day in the fiveyear-old geldings maiden, with O'Neill again taking the spoils, this time with ' Lets Go Sunshine'. This five-year-old by 'Sunshine Street' was given a great ride by O'Neill as he crept up on the inside of the two leaders to take the spoils on the line.

A postscript to this race saw the winning horse and jockey collide with a racecourse marker (in this case a bale of hay) after the winning post and both of them took a heavy fall. Thankfully they both returned to the winners' enclosure and successfully weighed in.

O'Neill was forced to stand down from further races though, thereby curbing his winning streak. The winning horse is owned by Joe Ferguson from Kilrane and trained by Colin Bowe, and indications are that he will be seen next on the track. Bred by Violet Pollard from Ballywilliam, this horse has been knocking at the door in recent races, having been placed four times prior to this victory.

The local partnership of Brian Jordan and Billy Bates teamed up to take the six-year-old geldings' maiden with 'The Tin Soldier'. Leading all the way, the six-year-old home-bred son of 'Taipan' could not be passed and stayed on to win under Mark Scallan.

Kilmore-based Brian Jordan noted: 'he has had a wind operation and he seems to have improved from this. He loves this good ground and if he is still okay we will try for a winners' of one contest'.

Owned by Kilmore man Billy Bates, this horse had a record of four pulled up finishes prior to this, so this effort was a great improvement. Jordan trains 12 horses at his yard for a variety of owners and this win was a great boost. Regular stable jockey, Benny Walsh, was not in a position to take the winning ride as he has to see out a suspension imposed on him when riding 'Ocean Cowboy' for the same connections on the track.

The Winners of Two contest was the day's highlight and lived up to its billing, with a fine win by 'Majestic Mayhem'. This six-year-old son of 'Luso' comes from the family of 'Florida Pearl' and he scooted away from the field to win under a good ride from Roger Quinlan. 'This horse has been unlucky a few times, but he appreciated the drying ground here,' according to winning trainer Darragh Berry who owns the horse in partnership with his breeder, Denis Hickey. 'We were waiting on this ground and he will know go to the track for a bumper.'

The day's most impressive winner came in the five-and six-year-old mares' maiden where 'No Reason Why', trained by Ballydarragh-based Liam Kenny, lived up to her promise to win. Owned by the Crosses Syndicate, based in Kilmuckridge and fronted by the 'Cricket' Quigley, the fiveyear-old daughter of 'Saddlers Hall' demolished this 15-runner field, having taken up the running at the third last.

With the ground drying out, the mare accelerated well under Chris Cully to win impressively. Winning trainer Liam Kenny stated afterwards: 'we were confident enough, she really enjoyed a bit of better ground and will go for the Bewleys mares bumper next'. The bay mare was purchased for her syndicate at Goffs by Con Power and looks like she could be useful.

The concluding race went out of the county, with the O'Connors from Co. Waterford taking the older geldings' maiden with 'Feathered Affair'.

Racing continues with the Bree meeting at Monksgrange on Sunday next where the good crowd, beautiful weather and five out of six local winners will be hard to be repeated.

Four-year-old Maiden: 1, D. Doyle, Promising Anshan ( B. O'Neill); 2, W. Bates, The Rodeo Clown (J.T. Rath); 3, C. Kavanagh, Samsons Witness (B.T. O'Connell). Dist.: neck, two ls.; nine ran.

Five-year-old Geldings Maiden: 1, S. Ferguson, Lets Go Sunshine (B. O'Neill); 2, T.J. Cross, Master Shefre (M.P. Fogarty); 3, G. Kinch, Tommy Jim (C. Cully). Dist.: half a length, two ls.; eleven ran.

Six-year-old Geldings Maiden: 1, W. Bates, The Tin Soldier (M. Scallan); 2, G. O'Brien, In The Gallery (R. Quinlan); 3, Turbine Syndicate, Cootamundra ( J. J. Codd). Dist.: one and a half ls., four ls.; 12 ran.

Winners Of Two: 1, D. Berry, Majestic Mayhem (R. Quinlan); 2, M. Corrigan, Close Review (J.J. Codd); 3, K. Smith, Hot Climate (M.P. Fogarty). Dist.: six ls., three ls.; eleven ran.

Five-and six-year-old Confined Mares Maiden: 1, Crosses Syndicate, No Reason Why ( C. Cully); 2, M. Horgan, Coober Pedy (M. Scallan); 3, G. Corrigan, Easy Picks (J.J. Codd). Dist.: 15 ls., half a length; 15 ran.

Seven-and eight-year-old Geldings Maiden: 1, F. O'Connor, Feathered Affair (R. Quinlan); 2, F. Ronan, Baginbun (M.P. Fogarty); 3, Ballywalter Farm, Destination Bewleys (C. Motherway). Dist.: four ls., two ls.; 14 ran.