GEOS - VERY SAD, BUT NOT A STICK TO BEAT POINTING WITH

Despite its uncommonly early start in the UK this time around, with a handful of fixtures in December, the point-to-point season is still very much in its early throes with the thick end of 175 meetings still to go at the time of writing. In what racing there has been so far, however, we have already lost a few faithful servants to the racing game; and none more high profile or keenly felt as GEOS, one of the smartest horses to mix hurdling and chasing in the last quarter century (highest rating over each of 165 and 153 respectively) and the winner of two Tote Gold Trophies, a Christmas Hurdle, a Bula Hurdle and a Castleford Chase.

A million miles away from the Grade 1 tracks and big purses, Geos was taking part in a novices' riders' point-to-point at Tweseldown in Hampshire on January 7th under Nicky Henderson's daughter Camilla and was, as you might expect, marching all over the opposition when falling at the water jump - an obstacle rarely seen between the flags nowadays - with fatal consequences for himself and a fall resulting in a broken collarbone for Miss Henderson.

Whether they express it openly or not, doubtless there'll be a few in racing who will be wondering what the hell the Hendersons were doing persisting with Geos at this level, when he had surely little else to prove after a glittering career (see also Door Latch, Vodkatini and Djeddah among other high-profile fatalities in point-to-points, the first two at the same fence in the same race). As far as I know, however, the fact is that Geos was a horse who didn't want to retire.

It was never the intention for him to go pointing when he was officially retired by Team Henderson in August 2005, but rather that he'd just enjoy himself at Seven Barrows for the rest of his days. In the end, though, he was clearly giving so many signs that he was still up for competing that they got him qualified with the Old Berkshire a few months later and opted to let him take his chances between the flags.

He ran three times in 2006, winning the last of these, a Confined Novices' Riders' event at Lockinge on April 17th (good). Although primarily associated with exploits over far shorter, he saw out the 3m trip pretty well in the end, emerging victorious after a being held up early on to score in the second fastest time of the day. This was Camilla Henderson's first ever winning ride, and the gelding had proven a tolerant and giving schoolmaster in the face of her fairly nervous first forays into race-riding in public.

Without necessarily pulling up many trees outside of Confined or Novice Riders' class, I would still have expected horse and rider to have developed an increasing understanding over the course of this year, but sadly we will never know now. That it ended this way doesn't make the returning of Geos to competitive action any more ill-advised or cruel, just very, very unfortunate, and God knows there's animals in the pointing field half his age who continue to present a greater danger to themselves and others than he would have done if he'd continued to run many more years into his dotage.

To that end I am hopeful that another top-class hurdler COPELAND, who has recently returned from nearly two years out of action, will defy the advancing years and make an impression in the point-to-point arena this winter. He is certainly in good hands to do so: trainer Emma Leppard and rider Cynthia Haydon managed to coax five wins out of five in the amateur sphere (including the big ladies' hunters' chase at Stratford) from CARRYONHARRY, the former Martin Pipe inmate and one of the laziest animals ever to walk the earth, and picked up where they left off with him by asking him nicely to win a ladies' open at High Easter last weekend by a very comfortable 3/4l.

Copeland turned out in the same company at Cottenham the following day in his pointing debut, and still held a slender lead at the last before the lack of race-fitness told. He had no discernible form beyond 2m5f under Rules previously, but then Geos didn't really either, and for the time being at least the view is taken that he can improve on this first effort and develop into a major player between the flags before too long... and it takes a very hard heart, or some of the less palatable myopia that a small number of pointing fans insist on exhibiting, not to wish that for him.