FOLLOWING an absence of three difficult months, point-to-point racing is set to return in just seven days’ time, albeit in a hybrid form with fixtures being staged on racecourses and catering for four- and five-year-old horses only.
This compromise solution will be key to reducing the long-term effects of an even more prolonged absence of the sport which would have had significant repercussions for many aspects of the National Hunt breeding and bloodstock industry across rural Ireland.
The importance of such a swift return was stressed at a key meeting last week between handler’s representatives and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture Martin Haydon and Wexford TD Paul Kehoe which led to the developments of recent days and the return has been welcomed by Gerry Kelleher, Chairman of the Point-to-Point Handlers Association.
“We are delighted that the government are letting us back this month. All along the point that we were making was that it was key we came back as early in April as possible before the ground goes.
“The meeting we had last week was a big help and we have to thank all the politicians who assisted us, HRI and the IHRB,” he said.
“Across the board from all handlers, the level of worry that was around since point-to-pointing got suspended was immense and they have put a lot of work into contacting all the politicians that they could or anyone who was in a position to help.
“All protocols will be obeyed now as has been the case this season and we are very confident that whatever meetings are run will be extremely safe without a hitch.”
Platform
The hope remains now that once the opening number of fixtures are staged successfully that they will prove to be a platform to allow for the full return of all aspects of point-to-point racing, including the races for older maidens, winners and open lightweight horses which is key and at the committee’s own individual courses.
Kelleher is keen to stress the importance of the full point-to-point community in its entirely over the coming weeks.
“It is vital that as time goes on that all horses will be catered for. The handler who has the six-year-old mare or gelding or the open lightweight horse, they can’t be forgotten about now,” he added.
“It is great to get going again and it is what we have worked hard for, but we are a representative body for all handlers so it is important we consider all horses.
“Point-to-pointing isn’t just about the commercial side, it is about all handlers, whether they have one or 40 in training, and about bringing along young jockeys in the likes of novice riders races. Nobody can be forgotten about.”
Additional fixtures deserve much praise
FOLLOWING the welcome news of this return for point-to-pointing here, albeit under those additional provisions, it concludes the series of three all point-to-point fixtures which were held over a 10-day period last month at Punchestown, Wexford and Tipperary.
The trio of fixtures provided a much-needed avenue for owners and handlers to run their horses at the very difficult time when the sector was paralysed, with over 260 horses taking advantage of the opportunity with races programmed over a range of distances for horses aged between four and seven.
This provided their connections with the platform to showcase their horses with many of them then offered for sale in Newmarket on Wednesday as trade once again began to flow following a period of stagnation.
Horse Racing Ireland have also amended the conditions for Monday’s two point-to-point bumpers in Cork following consultation with the IHRB and the Irish Point-to-Point Handlers Association.
It will allow unraced horses with a hunter certificate to run in them, mirroring the races that were run at recent all point-to-point bumper cards, with balloting rules altered to provide a preference for those who had finished placed in a point since October 2019 and would traditionally have been accommodated in the Easter Monday races.
Those additional fixtures were a significant undertaking from those in Horse Racing Ireland and the IHRB, particularly by accommodating those point-to-point handlers who did not have the required trainers licence to run under rules, and these efforts have to be recognised.