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'Point-to-Pointing'; Winter's Rural Sport

© Stuart Buchanan MacWatt

The point-to-point steeplechasing season opens this weekend, weather permitting. The first meeting is on 6 January at Cottenham under the auspices of the Cambridgeshire Harriers Hunt Club, although up until 3PM on Saturday the meeting was in doubt due to the recent arctic conditions which had made the ground too hard for jumping.

With all England declared free of 'hoof and mouth', (FMD), by the time the season gets into its winter stride next month, we can expect a massive turnout for this popular rural sport after last year's FMD disruption and cancellation of the season. From now until June every weekend will provide a number of point-to-point race meetings.

'Point-to-pointing' is the non-professional version of 'Steeplechasing', and for many horse riders, trainers and owners is the entry point to National Hunt racing. Its history is closely allied with the development of the 200 or so local hunts across the shires of England. Indeed, the sport of steeplechasing originates from the hunters' practice of racing across the countryside from one church steeple to the next; literally from "point to point".

Most meetings are organized by local hunts, and these one-day weekend events bring out the local gentry and their ladies in force, particularly when members of the Royal Family are either attending or competing. Miss Zara Phillips, daughter of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, is an enthusiastic Royal point-to-pointer and an accomplished equestrian 'Eventer'. Prince Charles has raced in his earlier years, as did the late Duke of Windsor when he was Prince of Wales.

'P-to-ps are the bedrock foundation of National Hunt racing. Both were brought to a stop last season by FMD, but in 2000 nearly 4,000 registered runners competed for prize money of £193,000 donated by the Horserace Betting Levy Board in recognition of the sport's significant contribution to National Hunt racing as a training aid for both horses and riders.

'P-to-p's are essentially informal social gatherings of the English rural society; the nobility, gentry and farming community gathering in fair weather or foul to witness their peers, friends or relations exercise their hunters over an often ad hoc racecourse of jumps. Visitors' entry is normally unrestricted, with a gate charge for a racecard featuring a mix of six amateur and professional races. The local farmer will also collect a car parking fee which he will either donate to the coffers of the local hunt or keep in compensation for having his field churned up into a muddy morass by the Range Rover brigade.

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