'ritish-trained pointer Premier Magic kept the home flag flying last week in retrieving the St James's Place Capital Foxhunter for England, and, as importantly, for an amateur-trained team. 

The Foxhunter prize fund has grown so large as to encourage professional trainers to enter horses to the extent that two horses in last week's field were rated 155 - an extraordinary quality of horse for the Festival's amateur championship. 

Nevertheless, the true triumph of Bradley Gibbs and Premier Magic is that the horse has been solely qualified for the race through the Point-to-Point field, giving solace to those that stage Open races that you can see the best quality even despite the volume of Irish competition and pot-hunters among the Hunter chases on licensed tracks. 

Gibbs opened the season's account in a hot Open race at the Harkaway between Christmas and New Year. Chaddesley has long been associated with good quality Point-to-Point races and the 14 runner field was just reward for perfect under-foot conditions for a 3 1/2l victory over Myth Buster. A repeat exercise at Garthorpe in early February completed the preparation.

Premier Magic came to Cheltenham last March well fancied but didn't get a clear view of his fences and after being hampered at the ninth, pulled up shortly after. This undistinguished run was an aberation in an otherwise unblemished season populated by nothing but victories. 

Happily though, punters have short memories, and a majority of the Gold Cup day crowd is gloriously (but also sadly) oblivious of the Point-to-Point scene. In any other race, no sane person would have allowed the sport's leading Pointer and one of its most efficient riders to face the starter at 66/1. 

Gibbs gave Premier Magic a textbook ride, from the outer, with plenty of space to see his fences, and the rest is history. 

Sadly though, the victory was only witnessed by his father-in-law and owner of premier Magic, Julian Sheriff. His partner was stuck at home unable to find a babysitter. Let's hope he's not superstitious or she'll be minding the baby for every major raceday henceforth.

Premier Magic is unlikely to head to Aintree, but Stratford's Foxhunter looks a distinct possibility on June 2.

​The St James's Place Foxhunter turned in a feel-good story to close out Gold Cup day at Cheltenham with the victory of Sine Nomine, 22 years on from owning a previous winner of the race for Robin Tate.
Trained by daughter and Catterick Clerk of Course, Fiona Needham and ridden by John Dawson, the game grey mare showed a good turn of foot after the last to make up around 3l and outpoint 11/8 favourite, It's On The Line, and retain the Festival's largest trophy in Britain once again.
Back in 2002, it was Fiona Needham in the plate to win the race on Last Option, but this time around, it was senior statesman of the Yorkshire Area changing room, John Dawson, who guided the 8 year old mare to success. Dawson is a veteran of over 900 rides between the flags, and nearly 200 winners, but this will rank right up there with the best. "We didn't really know what we had," he told Racing TV, "but I always knew she had that little bit of something else."
Hunting round the first circuit, Sine Nomine took closer order at the top of the hill joining a group of 7 after Ferns Lock had cut out the running for the first circuit and a half. Time Leader and Shantou Flyer were both prominent throughout, and favourite backers could have been forgiven for thinking their horse was cooked as It's On the Line was pushed along down the hill. Two out, Time Leader asserted, pressed by the favourite, who hadn't left Dawson and Sine Nomine room on the inner. Switching before the last, the grey mare responded to her rider's urgings to win by 3/4l. 
Dawson continued, "I was hoping the race would pan out in her favour. If we were travelling coming down the hill, we'd be galloping at the top."

Sine Nomine has been lightly campaigned since winning the novice hunter championship at Stratford last June, but with this target in mind. A 3l second in an Alnwick Open last December, her only other run at Wetherby in early February, where a bloodless victory over Bennys King brought race fitness without really finding anything more detailed, have been a product of the abysmal weather which has forced the abandonment of half the first half of the Pointing season. 

A repeat for Hertfordshire - trained Premier Magic had looked quite on the cards for much of the race. The Bradley Gibbs - trained and ridden gelding was well in touch until 3 out but faded rapidly and was pulled up by his rider.

The back-to-back victories of English-trained winners in Pointing's showcase race offer encouragement to those growing the sport as a nursery for young horses and riders, even if john would agree that epithet no longer describes him. This is one race where home-trained horses have largely kept the Irish at bay, and gives a massive fillip to pointing in Yorkshire, whose 11 fixtures provide plenty of stirring entertainment. 

It's not often that a race winner from Stratford goes off favourite for a race at the Cheltenham Festival. Winners, by dint of race quality and summer time racing tend to be aimed at different targets. But that is exactly what has arisen today as Vaucelet stakes his claim to be the leading hunter chaser in Britain and Ireland.
Twice a winner at Stratford, first in 2021 of the John Corbett Cup for novice hunters, which is generally accepted as the championship for the upcoming aspirants of the hunter chase genre, then a 4l winner of the Pertemps Network Stratford Foxhunter last year, Vaucelet hails from the specialist Point-to-Point yard of David Christie in Ulster. For that reason, but perhaps that reason alone, he may count as a rare British winner at the festival in the glut of Irish tricolors flying this past week.
Fifty acres of pastureland near Derrylin in Co Fermanagh on the road between Cavan and Enniskillen finds a veritable powerhouse of Point-to-Point and hunter chase excellence, and Vaucelet is the apple of David's eye. Winner of a modest £51,200 in career earnings, this son of Derby winner Authorized has graced the amateur scene for 3 years, since transferring to Christie in March 2021, just in time for a maiden victory over fences in a geldings only maiden at Portrush in May '21. The rider that day was one Ben Harvey, who rode Seddon with such coolness this Wednesday at Cheltenham.
It's not a fait accompli however. Like every other race at the Festival, the competition is stiff and numerous. The Foxhunter is perhaps the only conditions race to generally reach maximum numbers at the annual championships, and other contenders are lined up alongside.
Prominent among these are last year's winner Billaway, from the dominant Mullins yard, Chris's Dream for Henry de Bromhead, and The Storyteller for Gordon Elliott, all bidding to take the festival's largest trophy back to Ireland. Billaway has yet to finish outside the first two in 3 runs in the race, but at 11, perhaps age may be his worst enemy. Chris's Dream has obvious claims on form and would continue a hot streak for the de Bromhead yard that has suffered such ghastly personal misfortune these past months. The Storyteller won't need directions around Cheltenham either.
But the biggest challenge may, for the first time in a while, come from British-based horses. Famous Clermont hails from Chris Barber's Somerset yard, which lives and breathes the amateur code. The eight year old hasn't put a foot wrong this winter, winning a Larkhill Open on New Year's Day, and prepping up with victory at Wincanton in February and a comprehensive 18l demolition of Envious Editor in Haydock's Walrus Hunters Chase last month also - a well recognized prep for this race.
Corinthian David Maxwell fields Cat Tiger and Bob & Co, who bids to give Alice Stephens a memorable ride on the biggest stage.

From East Anglia, Premier Magic has a second try in the Foxhunter after pulling up behind Billaway in 2022. His preparation has been faultless this season, with victories at the Harkaway and then Garthorpe in February, the last beating Law of Gold 14l. He is no slouch for Bradley Gibbs and worth an each-way bet at 50/1.

However, if you're looking to oppose the favourite, French-bred Le Malin might be the one. He ran to his best recent form in mid February when going down just a half length to Billaway in a hunters chase at Naas in February and has won since. Francois Nicolle doesn't let many go but this one has more to prove.
Reassuringly, there are a number of amateur-trained British entries, pushing back the invasive reach of professional trainers into the race these past few years. It's a race to savour, and there's every chance we may see many of the competitors back her in early June.
Oh, and by the way, the previous race that day looks mildly interesting too.