RECENT racecourse fixtures have highlighted the important timing of last week’s decision by the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee to temporarily amend regulation eight of the point-to-point rules.

This now allows horses with a valid hunter certificate to run on the racecourse while still maintaining the validity of their hunter certificate during this period without racing between the flags.

In the 15 days following the January 13th announcement that the pause button was being pressed on the season, a total of 25 individual horses with hunter certificates have run at race meetings under rules.

With anxiety growing among owners and handlers about the prospects of being able to run their horses in the short term, that number has since multiplied significantly and it was notable that no fewer than 22 horses with a current hunter certificate were declared to run at Limerick on Tuesday. That accounted for just under a quarter of the declarations for the full fixture which ultimately fell foul of the recent spell of bad weather.

Importantly, the entries for this fixture would have been made prior to the INHSC’s announcement of the relaxation to the hunter certificate rules and these horses would have been lost from the point-to-point system for the remainder of the season otherwise, which could be crucial when point-to-pointing resumes in the coming weeks.

Maidens

The commercially important four and five-year-old maidens are driving the economic argument for the swift return of point-to-pointing, but when the go ahead to resume is given, hunt committees will require a spread of entries across all six races per day to ensure holding a fixture remains financially viable for them.

This rule amendment will hopefully provide the best chance of retaining these older horses over the duration of the suspension period to ensure they remain eligible for the remainder of the season, with over 70% of the fixtures in the spring campaign falling within the March to May period.

It should be noted that as there is no amendment being made to regulation 78, there will be implications of running on the track for the connections of those horses who may be intending to run in hunter chases later in the season.

If a horse does run in any race on the racecourse other than a hunter chase or a race which contains a clause suspending the relevant part of rule 78 on or after November 1st 2020, then it will not be able to run in a hunter chase for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.

This will be an important consideration for connections to be mindful of ahead of the spring period when the majority of these races are programmed.

As Paul Murtagh, Registrar of the INHSC conceded when announcing the regulation change, it is not the complete solution to the current suspension of the season, but it does afford a short-term avenue for connections that are in a position to take advantage of.