FOLLOWING its publication last Saturday, the spring 2023 fixture list was unsurprisingly the big talking point at last weekend’s point-to-point action, with the universal focus directed on the month of May.

Just nine fixtures have been programmed for what will be a heavily depleted May 2023 programme, with the season now finishing prematurely on May 21st at Ballingarry and Inchydoney.

Comparing that with the published fixture list for 2019 which featured no fewer than 17 fixtures between May 4th and June 3rd, underlines just how significantly the programme of fixtures for the final weeks of the season has fallen apart in such a short space of time.

The unsatisfactory decision by the Stewards of the INHSC to remove the June Bank Holiday weekend from the fixture list has justifiable received significant criticism and the consequential loss of the marquee two-day fixture in Kinsale which is absent from the 2023 spring calendar, has contributed to the depleted programme.

Necarne one-day

The loss of Kinsale is further exacerbated by the two-day Necarne fixture moving to a one-day fixture on April 22nd and Tralee following a similar passage to April 15th, having filled the position of the final fixture of last season just five months ago.

For hunt committees there are undoubtedly often additional challenges with running a point-to-point fixture in the month of May, with the expected drier weather requiring a particular focus on ground conditions and the additional financial expense that can come from having to artificially irrigate the track.

But the demand from handlers for opportunities to run their horses throughout the month of May is unquestionably clear and can’t be ignored.

Last season the average entry for fixtures in the month of May was 129, a figure that was only bettered in December and April, with Tralee, Punchestown, Dawstown and Bartlemy all producing entries above the 150-mark throughout May.

Now, with the 2023 campaign scheduled to finish on May 21st, a full weekend in advance of the end of May, it now removes a further two days of racing, a weekend which was heavily oversubscribed last season with Dromahane and Tralee attracting 315 entries between them.

Nine races

The season-ending fixture at Tralee alone pulled in 200 entries, the second largest of the season, as nine races were required to accommodate the 92 horses that ran.

Such large fixtures put an additional pressure on all those volunteers and officials involved in staging them, and it is likely that the condensing of May even further could lead to the pressure being keenly felt by a handful of the more popular courses in May next year that are likely to be oversubscribed once again.

This all highlights the need to achieve a balanced programme which arguably has not been met here. In late April, there are four fixtures due to take place on the one afternoon on Sunday, April 23rd, and that follows on from a fixture in Necarne on the previous afternoon.

Admittedly, some committees are constrained by the availability of land which leaves them unable to move their date, but with the potential of scooping over 150 entries for a fixture by running in May, one would expect that the authorities will have approached some of the committees in the busy April period and broached the possibility of such lucrative rewards being available if they were to run just a couple of weeks later when the prospect of such a sparse May schedule began to come to light.

Incentives required

If that effort to lure more fixtures into May has failed, perhaps further incentives are required. In Britain, point-to-point committees are incentivised to stage fixtures on dates which may not be the most desirable for them, but are in the better interest of the industry.

Introducing an enhanced grant to encourage committees to run in May, when there is a real need from within the industry for more fixtures, would be one further measure that could be trialled in the short term to try to redress the balance.