It was yet another weekend of weather roulette with just three meetings surviving in the point-to-point world. The East Down Foxhounds finally got the green light after postponing twice already. There was little let-up in the stormy weather in Tyrella on Saturday morning and that, coupled with my currently reduced levels of mobility (being on crutches), made the decision to stay at home an easy one.

It was a rare day seeing neither Derek O’Connor nor Jamie Codd ride any winners; the riding honours ended up with Jason McKewon who scored a double. His first was certainly fortunate, as he was left clear at the last but, as the saying goes, in order to finish first, first you must finish.

Steven Clements had a good weekend too. After winning the bumper at Naas on Saturday he went on to ride a double at Ballydarragh a day later. This is also where Jamie Codd found his mojo and notched up a couple of winners. But not allowing Jamie to extend his lead on the riders’ title, Derek O’Connor matched the double at Askeaton, as did Ciaran Fennessey.

Again I missed the action on Sunday, this time in favour of a day’s racing at Leopardstown. But for this I can be forgiven, as there was in fact a pointing interest. Never mind the Hennessy Gold Cup (which incidentally was won by former Irish pointer Last Instalment) or in fact any of the Grade 1s, it was the Raymond Smith Memorial Hunters Steeplechase that was the highlight of the day. It was a hugely competitive race even without dual Foxhunter winner, Salsify, who was ruled out. Recent Down Royal Hunter Chase winner, On The Fringe, was sent off favourite for the eight-runner race which also included recent Kirkistown winner, Warne, multiple Grade One winners, Quel Esprit and Pandorama, and recent Downpatrick Hunter Chase winner, James.

But the winner was the Liam ‘Muffty’ Lennon-trained Tammys Hill who finished second in this race last year and had to settle for the runner-up spot behind On The Fringe at Down Royal over Christmas. Ridden for the first time by Robbie McNamara who timed it to perfection, producing Tammys Hill just on the line to win by three quarters of a length. It is fair to say the horse has quite a large following of fans from the North who were well represented at Leopardstown and later on in Dublin too.