Changes to point-to-point fees ahead of new season
POINT-TO-POINTERS will be liable to pay a centrally collected fee for hunt certificates from the 2018/2019 season, replacing the existing system of direct payments to hunts.
The move comes after a survey by the Master of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) showed twoto-one support for payment of a standardised national rate.
Until autumn 2016, pointers had to hunt four times in a season and obtain a certificate before they could run but the MFHA dropped the rule, saying it was aware it was not being “adhered to”. At the same time, mandatory area rates were scrapped and replaced by guideline charges.
Now, a new £160 fee has been introduced to make payments “fairer”, eliminating individual arrangements and regional variations. The amount will remain fixed until the 2021/2022 season and will be in addition to a Point-to-Point Authority fee of £100 per horse.
Individual packs will be able to decide whether to allow people who have paid the fee to hunt or whether they will need to pay an additional subscription. Owners or trainers will also be able to nominate a hunt, when they pay for their certificate, to which the £160 will be paid.
“There’s been a wide variance in what people were paying and some people were undercutting other hunts so they were losing out, which is silly because it’s all money for hunting — and it’s the hunts who put on the point-to-points,” said MFHA director
Major Tim Easby. “Many years ago an agreed rate was introduced but people still undercut it and there was no way of policing it.“
Point-to-point trainer Cherry Coward said she was concerned as to whether the new system could push owners towards National Hunt racing instead.
“I might have a youngster I’d like to give a run toward the end of the season — if I’m going to have to pay almost £300 to run it once [point-to-pointing] I might as well go racing,” she said.
She added that the central charge also does not take into account long-standing arrangements that exist within hunting communities.
“We might have had reductions on our subscriptions, but we do a lot of unseen work for the hunt that isn’t charged, such as getting horses fit. Trying to do the books could become a nightmare for the treasurers,” she said.