An Aintree and Scottish Grand National double is a rarity for the best trainers and jockeys, and more or less unthinkable for a pair of British point-to-pointers.
Yet Latenightpass (pictured above winning the Glenfarclas Chase at Cheltenham) and Sine Nomine head to Aintree and Ayr respectively over the next two Saturdays with performances this season that suggest they will be competitive at least and capable of shaking up horses from leading licensed yards.
Such a double for a sport, rather than one yard, can be regarded as mere trivia, but it gives an indication of the horses to be found in British point-to-points. For the record, just two trainers have managed the spring National double in the past 50 years, with Jenny Pitman achieving it through Royal Athlete and Willsford in 1995 and Ginger McCain with the immortal Red Rum in 1974.
Both Latenightpass and Sine Nomine are established pointers who worked their way up the ladder and progressed to hunter chases. Latenightpass has since shown an aptitude for Cheltenham’s cross-country chases.
The Grand National line-up could also have included Kinondo Kwetu, who won a British point-to-point as a four-year-old, but picked up an injury and could not be offered at auction. Trainer Fran Poste opted to run him once more a year later to confirm he was fully sound and he won a ten-runner race, but was subsequently let go for a humble £14,000 at Doncaster.
Purchaser Sam England, the Yorkshire licensed trainer, has since sent him out to win seven races while picking up more than £92,000 in prize money. Kinondo Kwetu was just outside the top 34 horses guaranteed a run at Aintree, but he also holds an entry in the Scottish National and has been declared for a handicap chase run before the big race on the same Aintree card. That race also includes Twig, another horse who achieved good things in British points for trainer Matt Hampton and has since excelled under rules.
Matt Hampton with stable stars Twig (left) and Wagner
Such horses are a reminder to the public, bloodstock agents and trainers of the quality that can be unearthed at British point-to-points. Fiona Needham, well known clerk of the course at Catterick and occasional clerk at other northern racecourses, does not need telling for she trains the mare Sine Nomine under permit.
She says: “These horses are a good advert for British point-to-pointing. Bear in mind Sine Nomine is not unbeaten and there are other good horses out there. Everyone loves the Irish pointers, but there are good horses in Britain too.”
Licensed trainer Tim Vaughan has rediscovered that this season. He entered racing through the sport and has returned to it to support and provide rides for his son Ed who turned 16 last year. Needham says: “Tim rang me the other day to ask about a horse I planned to run in a point-to-point and while chatting he said ‘They are not easy to win’.”
While Ireland, with its plethora of young point-to-pointers and a breeding industry to maintain the flow, remains an obvious source of raw material for licensed trainers, bloodstock agents are waking up to the untapped potential that can be found in British point-to-points. That can be seen in results from specialist sales at Cheltenham, Aintree and Doncaster.
The primary aim for these agents is to find lightly-raced four- and five-year-olds who show immediate potential, but that would have meant missing the latent qualities lurking in Latenightpass or Sine Nomine. He did not win a maiden point-to-point until his second season and sixth race, while the mare required five races and also a second season.
Sine Nomine and Fiona Needham (right) after winning a point-to-point at Duncombe Park (Tom Milburn)
Needham says: “After she had won two or three races we were approached to sell her, but not for the sort of money she’s worth now. She’s now won a fair bit of prizemoney to vindicate not selling.”
While Needham and her parents Robin and Pat wanted a horse to race and have some fun with, albeit not daring to dream of the Cheltenham Festival Hunters’ Chase which she won last month, the operation behind Latenightpass combines racing and selling. Warwickshire’s Tom Ellis, who has taken out a licence to run his mother’s horse in the Grand National, has handed responsibility for his yard’s pointers to his wife Gina, who handles older pointers and youngsters bought as stores with a view to racing and then selling.
Tom Ellis (right) with his wife, Gina, and parents Tony and Pippa after Latenightpass won the Aintree Foxhunters
In a sport where prize money is low and there is little if any financial benefit from training winners – other than to attract owners to a yard – the trading of young pointers supplements incomes.
The Ellis’ latest project to go under the hammer, four-year-old Is This For Real, a once-raced winning son of Vendangeur, made £80,000 at Goffs’ Aintree Sale held after racing on the opening day of the Randox Grand National meeting, bought by Paddy Brennan. He was one of two British pointers at that auction, the other being Big Bert (sold for £48,000 to Dan Astbury) from the yard of West Country trainer Josh Newman.