Image © Healy Racing
Within the sporting arena, it is rare for a sport to have two of its greatest competitors competing against each other at the same time, but that is what point-to-point fans were treated to through much of the late noughties and early tens.
Within the sporting arena, it is rare for a sport to have two of its greatest competitors competing against each other at the same time, but that is what point-to-point fans were treated to through much of the late noughties and early tens.
Derek O’Connor and Jamie Codd are the two most successful riders within the history of the sport, and the competition between the pair pushed them on, whilst at the same time serving up several thrilling title showdowns that captured the headlines.
O’Connor was first of the pair to breakthrough. His initial national title came in 2004 with a then record 59 winners, but it would be another three years until Codd would emerge as a potential threat.
The Wexford rider finishing second for the first time in 2007 with 59 winners a tally that matched O’Connor’s first record winning title haul from three years earlier.
Twelve months later, Codd was no longer a possible potential threat, as he had closed to within 13 winners of O’Connor in 2008 season.
That challenge pushed O’Connor further. In 2009, he became the first rider to ever win 100 races in a season, riding double the number of winners of all other riders, except Codd with a 113-winner tally which to this day remains a record single-season haul.
It is the first time ever that a rider has ridden more winners than the number of meetings held; 108 meetings: 113 winners.
It was also the first of three consecutive years where O’Connor rode 100 or more winners in a season, and remarkably, in the last of them in 2011, he was joined as a centurion by Jamie Codd. This season showed the pair at the peak of their abilities.
Heading into the final fixtures of that season, O’Connor led Codd by five wins, 103 to 98, and the pendulum swung both ways, with Codd winning the Kinsale finale on the Saturday evening before the pair went in different directions on the Sunday.
O’Connor remained at Kinsale to ride a Sunday treble, whilst Codd ventured to Ballingarry, and matched the hat-trick, including his 100th winner of the season.
O’Connor remained at Kinsale to ride a Sunday treble, whilst Codd ventured to Ballingarry, and matched the hat-trick, including his 100th winner of the season.
That ensured the title was still up for grabs going into the final day decider at Ballingarry on the Monday, and whilst Codd got two early winners on the card, it would be O’Connor that once again ruled supreme with a four-timer on the day, sealing a six-winner cushion, 110 to 104.
Between them they won 214 of the 811 races that were run in the season (26%), but when you strip out of that any ladies or novice only races, and the meetings they couldn’t ride when there were two or more fixtures on the same day, they actually won 45% of all the races they could ride in that season.
O’Connor continued to have the edge over his great Wexford rival in the next two seasons with relatively comfortable title defences, before the pair were again making headlines with another tight title fight at the end of the 2014 season – arguably their tightest ever.
Heading into the final weekend, just three winners separating the title rivals, with Codd this time holding the advantage, 90 winners to 87.
That brought with it a great amount of additional media attention.
“He was a great winner but by God he was a great loser," Codd said at the time. "Very, very gracious in defeat. He hung around there on the Monday in Ballingarry for the celebrations, which is a hard thing to do. I’ve done it for a couple of years. I had a beer with him after. It’s a measure of the man.”
For more than a decade, the pair dominated the point-to-point scene, pushing each other to extraordinary heights. Between them, they rewrote the record books.
O’Connor became the most successful point-to-point rider in history with more than 1,400 winners and a record 12 national titles. Codd, meanwhile, retired in 2021 with 972 point-to-point victories and two national championships, widely regarded as one of the finest horsemen the sport has ever produced.
In 2017, Barry O'Neill finally interrupted their dominance by winning the championship, becoming the first rider in years to break the O’Connor-Codd monopoly.
By then, however, the rivalry had left a lasting legacy. For many followers of the sport, the golden era will always be remembered not for one champion alone, but for the years when O’Connor and Codd fought every weekend for supremacy.
One was the relentless king. The other was the brilliant challenger who refused to yield.
