INSURANCE problems have forced the cancellation of a point-to-point this weekend and placed a further five scheduled for May in doubt.

A group insurance policy which covers all meetings outside of the Cork & Waterford region and Northern Ireland expires this Friday evening and renewal terms have not yet been agreed.

In order to beat the expiry date, the Meath and Tara Hunt has brought forward its meeting scheduled for next Sunday to this Friday, April 21st.

The North Kerry Hunt, who lost a meeting to bad weather recently, has also taken the opportunity to race this Friday with a replacement fixture. Entries for both these meetings close at noon on Tuesday.

However, the Monksgrange (Bree Foxhounds) meeting also scheduled for next Sunday has been cancelled. It’s understood that the hunt was unable to ensure it would have sufficient volunteers available to help run the meeting on Friday.

Hunts in Northern Ireland have separate insurance policies, as do fixtures in the Cork & Waterford region (which also covers a small number of other meetings outside of their jurisdiction) and they are not expected to be affected.

Next Saturday's Fermanagh Harriers meeting at Necarne and Sunday's Killeady Harriers fixture at Dromahane will go ahead as scheduled.

But there are doubts over five other upcoming fixtures – Stowlin (April 30th), Grennan (May 7th), Stradbally (May 14th) and Ballingarry (May 20th and 21st).

A spokesperson for the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee said: “The situation is very fluid and we're hopeful a solution can be found.”

Insurance first became a major issue for point-to-points in September 2021 when two major underwriters withdrew from the market. Some observers pointed to a rise in claims as the cause of the problem, while others said it was merely a reflection of what was happening in public liability insurance across many sectors.

A new group policy was agreed in October 2021 but with significantly higher premiums required plus the establishment of a 'rainy day' fund which would be used to settle major claims. The new policy also covered hunting which is seen by insurers as a high-risk activity.

The policy was due to expire in January but a last-minute extension was agreed at that time which allowed hunting and point-to-points to continue into the spring.

One option which may need to be explored during the off-season is the creation of an insurance policy which covers point-to-points but not hunting. However, if hunting turns out to be no longer viable then it will raise the question as to why hunts would continue to voluntarily run point-to-points.

MORE NEWS ON THIS DEVELOPING STORY IN THE IRISH FIELD NEXT WEEKEND