WHEN the IHRB published its 2023 annual report earlier this year, it laid bare one of the big challenges facing point-to-pointing at present.

The report noted that the number of handler permits for that year had dropped below 500 for the first time, with a total of 485 handler permits issued.

To put that into context, the number of permits issued by the sport’s regulator throughout the 2015/16 season stood at 667. That is a drop of 27% in seven years, or in real terms, there were 182 fewer handlers holding a permit in 2023.

Worryingly, when the time comes for the IHRB’s 2024 annual report to be published, it now looks likely that the news will not make for much better reading.

Figures on the IHRB website indicate that a peak of 463 handlers held a permit in April 2024, pointing to a further decline.

Linked to this, the number of older horses active within point-to-pointing has decreased dramatically, a point that has already been covered extensively in these pages previously.

To recap, at the beginning of this week, 753 horses aged six and older had an active hunter certificate. In the corresponding week 10 years ago, that figure stood at 1,387.

Insurmountable challenge

Rising costs have undoubtedly proven to be an insurmountable challenge for many to overcome, particularly for those outside of the buy-to-sell model of younger age maidens, and it is in that context, that handlers’ disappointment upon hearing of the modest prize money increase pledged for point-to-pointing in 2025 is understandable.

Horse Racing Ireland has committed to increasing prize money levels by €100 per race, with the exception of the commercially focused four and five-year-old races, to target the older horse population.

When broken down, that is an extra €70 for the connections of a race winner, an additional €20 for finishing second, and an extra €10 for finishing third. To cover the cost of it, HRI has allocated an extra €36,800.

That is a modest increase, particularly given that prize money levels have remained unchanged since 2019.

It is even more so when HRI’s budgeted spending on prize money for point-to-pointing in 2025 is forecast to be 6% lower than what it spent in this area back in 2008.

It should be acknowledged that HRI’s funding contribution to the point-to-point sector as a whole has increased significantly over the past two decades.

Since 2008, their contribution to the point-to-point grant has increased by 137%, while their funding of integrity costs has risen by 60% in that period. This year, the integrity budget is forecast to rise above €1 million for the first time.

Forgotten group

That all begs the question: Have the sport’s key participants become the forgotten group? If those figures lead us to believe that they have, it directs us to the strategic planning surrounding point-to-pointing into the future.

HRI and the IHRB both published multi-year strategic plans within the past 18 months, setting out their aims and goals for the years ahead. However, finding references to point-to-pointing in either document is a challenge.

Admittedly, legislation states that HRI’s involvement with point-to-pointing is primarily to provide ‘financial support’; however, even within that limited yet important responsibility, there is no evidence in their strategic plan of any stated objectives with regard to point-to-point funding up to 2028 and the end of the timeframe covered by their current strategic plan.

Similarly, the IHRB points to their responsibility when it comes to point-to-pointing, as being integrity-focused, in line with racing inside the rails.

Strategic plan

Therefore, it would be a real step forward for the sport to see the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee, in conjunction with HRI and the IHRB, produce and publish a strategic plan of its own specifically for point-to-pointing, setting out how it can begin to address many of these challenges, particularly in the area of prize money and efforts to arrest the decline in the number of handlers and older horses alike.

Point-to-point ratings

COLIN Bowe and Walter Connors have enjoyed a great deal of success together, principally with French-breds, and Lemmy Caution (94+) was the latest of them, when he made a winning debut at Monksgrange.

This was a very polished display for an initial outing in competitive action, particularly with the omission of the second-last fence throughout much of the card, which made for a particularly energy-zapping run to the final fence for green youngsters.

To his credit, he was going away at the line in a race where 60 lengths covered the first four home.

The opening split saw Hernando De Soto (93+) left clear at the last when well in control, and he too was full of running by the line. The penultimate fence had been jumped in both divisions of the four-year-old mares’ maiden at the beginning of the card and proved to be particularly influential.

That was especially the case in division one, where A Chara (80+) had sat in a close third, when the two horses in front of her exited at that obstacle.

In the second division, her stablemate She’s A Fair Maid (83+) had raced from the front and, while strongly challenged up the straight by what had been her nearest running rival throughout, she was always finding plenty, showing great staying qualities in the process.

Impressive maidens

Jonathan Fogarty produced the latest in what has felt like a conveyor belt of impressive four-year-old maiden winners emerging from his yard this season, when the front-running With Nolimit (94+) ran out a 10-length winner at Liscarroll in what visually was a very taking effort.

The second division was a more closely run affair, as Minella Marathon (91+) had burned off the attentions of Jessbers Wish by the last, but still had enough in reserves to hold off a staying-on more experienced rival by the line.

At Oldcastle, Green Style (92++) looked to have a high cruising speed, as in a race which was run to a good gallop over the final two miles, he easily came on terms and should have the pace to drop back in trip for a bumper.

His rider Stephen Connor was also victorious in the age group 24 hours earlier at Loughbrickland.

This was a race run to an extremely strong gallop owing to the pace that Lupin Du Chenet set, and Connor’s mount, Largy Go (93+), picked off that rival after the penultimate fence before showing great resolution to pick up again on the run-in when challenged to win going away.