Point to Point

Today Sharon Leigh Jen Amelia and Myself decided to go to Brecon Point to Point. Point-to-Point racing is amateur horse racing over fences for hunting horses. Horses running in Point-to-Points must be registered thoroughbreds, except in Hunt Members races and certain other Club Members races. The horses have to obtain a certificate (Hunter Certificate) stating that they have hunted for at least 4 days in the season, in addition the Riders must obtain a certificate from the Hunt Secretary. Point-to-Point Regulations in the UK require all races to be run over 3 miles, but there are some exceptions. A 3 mile race is almost invariably two circuits of a typical Point-to-Point course. Every course must have a minimum number of fences and at least two fences must have ditches (this is usually one fence that is jumped twice). The fences should be approximately 4 feet 3 inches high and are made of birch, broom or spruce. On the whole they are at least 10 yards in width. The first fence in any race must be not less than 14 yards wide. We arrived in the village of Llanfrynach near Brecon and found a lovely country pub called the Swan (I think) for lunch. There were seven races on the card and we arrived in time for race three. We found a nice viewing point on the Hill where we could see the Paddock (where the horses parade before the race) and most of the course. We all picked a horse from the race and Sharon and I placed a £2.00 bet with bookies on the course. My horse was doing very well but fell on the second last. Amelia and I put a £1.00 bet each on a horse called Final Mick in the fifth race. He didn’t have good form an was an outsider he was in last position of the remaining four with two fences to jump. The horses then went out of our site for a short while and when they came back into view Final Mick had taken the lead and made an exciting finish winning us £14 each. Sharon picked the winner of the 4th race winning a tenner. The point to point season is coming to an end shortly but there is one more local one The Countryside Alliance will be holding their Point to Point on Bank Holiday Monday the 26th May at Bonvilston, Near Cowbridge. It costs approx £8 each for entry with under 16’s free that was the cost today anyway. They usually start around 2pm. If you have never been it is a good day out and especially if the weather is nice. There is always refreshments for sale including a bar. Buy a programme, Mark off the runners, have a look at the horses in the paddock and try an pick a winner. You can even have a flutter usually for as little as a pound or two or more if you want.

Posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 1:46 am You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.