A 26-STRONG autumn programme of fixtures gets underway at Castletown-Geoghegan tomorrow afternoon with the commencement of the 2023/’24 point-to-point season.

With the threat of insurance difficulties having lingered in the background for much of last season, the sports’ participants will be hoping that efforts behind the scenes with the NHSPFS Insurance Scheme will provide a more solid footing for the sport to continue throughout the season ahead without interruption.

Particularly as this year owners and handlers will now be contributing financially directly into the fund via a number of temporary insurance levies which have been applied to the sport.

The cost to register hunter certificates with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has risen to €100 for this season and is inclusive of a €35 temporary insurance levy.

In addition, a temporary insurance levy of €10/£10 is also being applied to each entry that an owner or handler makes, with the cost of most entries now rising to €70.

As reported in The Irish Field during the summer, the Point-to-Point Handlers Association had sought to protect smaller handlers from these additional costs by proposing that a temporary levy be applied to the sale of point-to-point horses at public auction instead of the insurance contribution being met by a levy on both hunter certificates and entries.

The additional time taken for a levy of public sales to generate the required finances resulted in the levy on hunter certificates and entries being favoured by the authorities for the season ahead.

Sign a waver

As part of the conditions set out by the insurance cover, riders will this season be required to sign a waiver in the presence of a solicitor before they will be permitted to ride at fixtures specifically covered by the NHSPFS scheme.

Last season, a solicitor was present at each of these courses to witness the waiver being signed on a fixture-by-fixture basis, but for this season the NHSPFS waiver will only be required to be signed once and covers the duration of the season, however the burden of getting the signing of the waiver legally witnessed will now fall upon the individual rider.

All hunt secretaries have been notified of this condition and will be instructed that any rider not in possession of the required signed and legally witnessed waiver cannot be permitted to ride on the day.

Recent insurance difficulties have also focussed attention on the overall running of fixtures, and to that end, point-to-point committees have been sent a Point-to-Point Event Management Plan which is described as being ‘designed to plan and provide for the effective management of this point-to-point event, with a focus on the safety for all attendees.’

The safety document looks at the use of temporary structures, field layout and service providers amongst other areas from a health and safety perspective.

THE pre-Christmas calendar of fixtures was reduced by one earlier this month with the confirmation that the South Union fixture at Kinsale, which was scheduled for Sunday, October 29th, has been cancelled.

That delays the start of the season on the Cork-Waterford circuit to the Dromahane fixture on Sunday, November 12th, by which time the autumn season in the northern region will have already come to an end.

Fixtures in that region have typically always been weighted towards the first half of the autumn campaign, and this year is no different, as they fill five of the first six Saturdays of the season.

The absence of an Iveagh fixture from the schedule, which has resulted in the Co Downs moving from Loughbrickland to Moira, and no autumn fixture for the Fermanaghs at Necarne, has produced a more compact autumn calendar in the region.

Northern opportunities

The North Down fixture in Kirkistown moves forward a week to Saturday, November 11th, and as the last fixture in the region in the autumn term, will elongate the gap until action in the region resumes, which has typically not been until the final Saturday in January.

The impact of this fixture list for handlers is further compounded by the absence of Corbeagh House from the 2023 schedule due to the unavailability of the land, as that fixture was typically well supported by northern handlers seeking late autumn opportunities.

The additional availability of Saturday slots in the second half of the autumn campaign has however been taken up by hunt committees elsewhere in the country.

The Co Clare hunt, which stepped in to take over when the Kilmoganny fixture was cancelled last year, will race at Quakerstown on Saturday, November 18th, followed a week later by the West Waterford fixture in Boulta, with the Waterford Foxhounds joining the autumn calendar at Curraghmore on Saturday, December 2nd.

Those three fixtures all move to Saturday slots for the first time, and the greater use of Saturdays is certainly a welcome move for this year.

Non-graded open races welcomed for ‘traditional’ pointers

AFTER a 2022 autumn season which saw former Grade 1 winners claiming victory in half of the first 11 open lightweight races last year, the Irish National Steeplechase Committee (INHSC) have programmed a number of the non-graded open races, which were first introduced last spring, for the coming weeks.

Given the usual high quality of races in the division in the run up to Christmas, they are likely to be well received by those seeking to avoid the more high-profile additions to the open division.

Following the results of those former Grade 1 winners in the early weeks of last season, a total of three non-graded open races have been added to the first half of this year’s autumn campaign, which are beginning in two weeks’ time at Tinahely on October 15th.

Further races follow at Moira on October 28th and Dromahane on November 12th.

A particularly welcome addition to the race programme this autumn is the winners’ race at Tattersalls on December 10th, which does not have a limit on the number of races that a horse can have won in order to be eligible to run in it.

The only restriction on this race is that a horse cannot have won a race under rules.

Traditional point-to-point horse

As has been written in these pages previously, protecting opportunities for what could be classed as the more traditional point-to-point horse is key.

Without races like this, when the traditional point-to-point horse wins four point-to-point races, competitive opportunities in point-to-points can very swiftly disappear for them as they are pushed into open company.

Early stages

Here they have to take on battle-hardened ex-track horses in what may still be an early stage in their own career.

Hopefully this initial race will be the first of a number of such races that will be added to the programme in the future.

Restricted

Meanwhile the Golden Vale fixture at Turtulla will once again play host to a valuable five-year-old and upwards maiden that is restricted to handlers who have trained 10 winners or less in their careers.

The race on November 19th will be worth a total of €3,250 in prize money, with the INHSC contributing a bonus of €1,500 to the winning owner.