THE National Hunt season came to its conclusion on Saturday and we get a few days break from jumps racing on this side of the Irish Sea before it all starts again on Saturday with meetings at Hexham and Uttoxeter.

I do always think there should be a longer gap before we start again but I am not sure anything will be changing!

So, while flat racing takes centre stage over here this week, we do of course have the Punchestown Festival which gets underway on Tuesday.

We are heading over with Thanksforthehelp who runs in the Adare Manor Opportunity Final handicap hurdle, the first race on Wednesday at 2.30pm. This will be the third time our nine-year-old has run in the race, having finished third in 2022 and he won the race last year. It is a very competitive 25 runner handicap but he loves his trip over to the Emerald Isle so I hope he can spark back into form

Thanksforthehelp will be our only runner of this week and we have no runners on the flat but are likely to have a couple of entries at Uttoxeter on Saturday when jumps racing resumes. Saccary is looking for his first win over hurdles after finishing runner up the last twice while Grand Clermont could make his British and stable debut.

Pony Racing and Point to Pointing. We finished the 2025-26 season with 30 winners on the board. Obviously I would have liked more and more high profile successes but on the flip side of that we have had significantly less runners than we did last season. This is due to us having slightly less horses but also with some nice youngsters in the team they don’t run as often as the older, more hardened campaigners and we have hopefully been minding them for the future.

Kingston Queen finishes the season as our leading horse and is still very much a horse I hold in high regard. She had five starts, winning nicely on hurdling debut at Chepstow before finishing third to the eventual Supreme novice hurdle winner at Cheltenham in December.

Jaipaletemps finishes the season as the leading horse numerically and what a season he had, winning five times and being places numerous times as well. He started winning from a mark of 94 at Ffos Las in November and finishes it having a rating of 123. He was partnered to success by Rian Corcoran on each occasion and indeed gave Rian his first win as a professional the first time they teamed up together. While life will be tougher for our seven-year-old next season I wouldn’t bet on further improvement.

Horses that have won twice this season for us include Royal Mer, Gentleman Toboot, Best Night, Harry Junior, Itseemslikeit, Eton Mes and No Walkover. All have gained valuable wins and can continue to progress this season.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank my owners and staff for all their help and support over the past twelve months, for without this none of it would be possible. Horses certainly take you on a journey and there are many highs and lows. I always want better and that is the plan for the season ahead and I hope you all will enjoy following the team again throughout.

Dave Pipe was talking to Richard Walsh