Point-to-point: Pointing ahead

Camilla Swift looks forward to the point-to-point season and celebrates its deep-rooted links with the hunting community in this article which was first published in the Winter issue of My Countryside magazine, before the point-to-pointing season got underway.

The point-to-point season is now well underway, with the first meeting of the season having been held on 30th October at Bishops Court, in Devon. The 2021/22 fixture list is jam packed, with a total of 158 scheduled meetings running over the course of 32 weeks. The horses are raring to go, the organisers and volunteers have been beavering away, and the trainers, owners and spectators can't wait to get going.

As with so many things, the last point-to-point season was disrupted by the Covid pandemic. Many meetings had to be cancelled due to the national lockdowns, while others had to be held behind closed doors without spectators. But despite that, many meetings up and down the country managed to pull through and make a success of the sport – thanks in huge part to the hunts which support the sport and do so much of the organisation and behind the scenes work that enables it to exist.

With many fixtures behind closed doors, live streaming of races was a new development which allowed people to keep up with the race season as best they could. "Live streaming kept people who couldn't go racing interested, and I think that was a massive help for the sport," says trainer Alan Hill, who also sits on the Point-to-Point Authority board as the MFHA representative.

"We unfortunately had some of our best pointing when we couldn't have crowds. However, there were people who couldn't go and watch their family members or their horses race live, but thanks to the live stream, every weekend they were glued to the telly watching the meetings live. It kept them connected to their family." Live streaming was an additional cost, but the organisers got round this by either charging a 'pay per view' fee or asking for donations. "Most meetings were able to make it pay, cover their costs and some made a bit of profit," says Hill.

Racing presenter Luke Harvey, who also trains two pointers himself, helped to present one of the Kimblewick Races' livestreamed events, and believes that the new technology could really help to increase pointing's popularity. "Live streaming was absolutely brilliant last year, and hopefully it will continue," he says. "You do have to find a balance, as you don't want to be losing money by people not coming to the races. It is a fine line, but any way that you can showcase the sport is fantastic." As with racing under rules, it's all about increasing the visibility of the sport, and encouraging people to get involved. "Horse racing without terrestrial coverage would be absolutely snookered," he continues. "Pointing has to go forward, and live streaming is a great way to showcase the sport and show just how close to the action you can be at a point-to-point."

It was also vital for the future of the sport that pointing was able to continue in some way despite Covid regulations. It's all very well putting on events year after year, but if you skip a year, it can be hard to regain that momentum. But thanks to the hard work of the hunting and point-to-pointing communities, who buckled down and did what they could despite difficult circumstances, pointing is still in a healthy position. "I think it sums us up in the hunting and point-to-pointing world: we had a challenge, and we weren't going to walk away from it," says Hill. Meeting that challenge meant that the fixtures that did manage to run last year had full cards of horses and demonstrated some of the best pointing out there. "The point-to-point racing last year was unbelievably strong," he continues. "Because we were down in meetings, and we had higher numbers of runners, we had very good racing. I was lucky to have a lot of horses run and a lot of supportive owners. But trying to win a point-to-point last season was very competitive."

The hope is that the 2021/22 season continues in the same vein. Some fixtures did sadly have to cancel last year as the financial risk was too large – but thanks to the sheer determination of the hunting and racing communities to get things back on track, the vast majority of those meetings will return this season. Point-to-points will be run through to 11th June. As important as this is for the sport itself, they are also a huge fundraiser for hunts, and hunt volunteers will be busy putting up fencing, setting up the bar and organising trophies, along with many other jobs.

Of course, the links between hunting and pointing go far deeper than just organisation. In the past, all pointers had to qualify to point through going out onto the hunting field. That is no longer the case, but many trainers and owners do still send their horses out hunting. "We still take the ones out that enjoy it", says Alan Hill, while of Luke Harvey's two, "one absolutely loves it and will jump anything put in front of him. The other one has a total panic attack and I wouldn't be on him for very long!"

If you no longer have to hunt a pointer in order for it to race, then why bother? "It's amazingly beneficial to hunt horses, particularly racehorses that have a standard routine," explains Harvey. "It's brilliant for their mindset. But on the other side of the coin, some of them just don't enjoy it. They get upset and not only do you risk injuring them, but you risk ruining other people's day. I think where you have a choice now is the best way to go."

Kelly Morgan, who has a yard of 11 pointers in training at her base in Leicestershire, sends her older horses out hunting to keep them happy and fresh. Of her 11, around four will go hunting, "mainly in preparation for the season," she explains. "It keeps them thinking and keeps their minds in a good place." Meisha Micklewright has a number of horses in training at Kelly Morgan's as well as two at home, one of which her partner Tom Chatfeild-Roberts uses as his main field-mastering horse. "It's a great way to get them fit, and they really enjoy their days out," she says. Another person keen to take pointers out hunting is Elizabeth Feakes, who trains her pointers from home in Sussex. "Ihere is no better way to prepare a horse to go racing than to hunt – being surrounded by other horses is like being in a race. Throw in the unpredictability of where you are going, and all kinds of obstacles. It teaches horses to listen to their riders and where to put their feet, and prepares horses for the unexpected, which is great for their brains – and ours as jockeys!"

"I love hunting my pointers and often have a joke with the field master, saying 'can we have a nice two-hour hunt please, he's running next week!'" says Jessica McKie. Her parents hunted and raced in Bicester country before moving up to Northumberland where she lives now and is currently doing her permit training, "the dream is to have a runner in the Foxhunters' at Aintree or Cheltenham." She has seven pointers in for this season and for her, hunting them "is very much a personal touch – it can benefit horses who don't enjoy all-weather gallops and you can get them fit without realising. I love hunting in the College Valley because of the hills and the perfect going."

The one thing she does add is a reminder of what keeps it all ticking along. "Point-to-points are run, organised and paid for by the hunt, and I think sometimes they don't get enough recognition for the hard work that goes into it – often for very little reward." Last year might have been a quieter year than usual, but despite that, pointing put on a fantastic show, and hunts all over the country pulled out all the stops to make fixtures happen. Let's hope that this season continues in the same way, and that hunting and point-to-pointing continue to attract new supporters along the way.

Image by Roy Kemp