Bad news for community
THE point-to-point community was dealt a serious body blow on Thursday with the sudden suspension of the current season with immediate effect and with no target date for resumption.
The Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee (INHSC) announced the suspension ‘following updated Government guidance’.
Paul Murtagh, Registrar of the INHSC, said: ‘Clarification was received today from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine that point-to-point racing would not be included in the category of professional and elite sports permitted to continue behind closed doors. This will mean that no upcoming point-to-point fixtures will take place until further notice because of the difficult situation the country finds itself in presently (sic).’
The announcement was greeted with great disappointment and even shock by the point-to-point community which has successfully and safely run off a full programme of fixtures behind closed doors since the autumn schedule began in September.
Two of the first meetings lost were the Shillelagh and District Hunt at Tinahely on Saturday and the Ballinagore Hunt at Ballycrystal, Kiltealy, on Sunday.
Pages of very strict protocols have been rigidly enforced at considerable hardship to handlers, jockeys, stable staff, officials and a huge number of volunteers from the local organising hunt committees, and no breaches have been reported from any meeting.
Most of the bigger stables were already in considerable difficulty after the loss of almost half the spring/summer programme as they had a big backlog of valuable horses awaiting a chance to run. Colin Bowe said recently he had nearly 20 horses left over from the autumn to run as five-year-olds at the earliest opportunity and up to 50 fouryear-old maidens ready to go from early February. This situation would be replicated in all the bigger operations.
We can only assume the decision was reached to cut down on the substantial amount of long-distance travel involved in keeping the show on the road.
Murtagh said: ‘We will now begin to investigate the options available to us around the fixture list and race programming for when we are permitted to recommence.
‘We will remain racing-ready to run point-to-points once we get the green light.’
This is cold comfort for all in the hard-pressed point-to-point community who could not have done more to make their sport and industry safe and sustainable.