Body & Soul0 min ago
Horse Racing
9 Answers
Hi. What is the difference between a Point to Point horse race and an ordinary horse race. Thanks.
Answers
The point to point races are for amateur riders in the UK but in Ireland professional riders are allowed to participate. A lot of horses run in point to point races which are organised and scheduled by local hunt or pony clubs and come under the jurisdiction of Point- to- Point Owners and Riders Association and the Point- to- Point Secretary’s Association. The...
10:03 Fri 18th Dec 2020
The point to point races are for amateur riders in the UK but in Ireland professional riders are allowed to participate. A lot of horses run in point to point races which are organised and scheduled by local hunt or pony clubs and come under the jurisdiction of Point-to-Point Owners and Riders Association and the Point-to-Point Secretary’s Association. The sport is overseen by The Jockey Club. "The sport of point-to-point racing, or pointing as it is also known, dates back to 1836 when hunting men used to race their horses from church steeple to church steeple — hence the name “point-to-point”."
For a horse to participate in a P-toP it has to have been 'hunted'. All this means these days is it is presented to the Master at the Meet and gets its 'card' stamped -sometimes they will give it a couple of hours with the hunt it depends on the horse. The rider must be 16 years of age or over and not be licensed to ride professionally. the horse must not be trained by anyone with a Jockey Club Trainers license; however many trainers get around this by having an amateur on their Yard (often their wife or partner) In my day in the 1970's we would have a jolly around the local course in the Ladies Race, but these days it's much more competitive. They used to use farmers land to have the race, making fences especially for the event -now they tend to be run at regular racecourses or places where they have other Equestrian Events such as Eventing.