PARTICIPATION levels within hunter chases have taken a disappointing decline in recent seasons, and following calls to remove some of the barriers facing point-to-point handlers from running their horses in hunter chases and point-to-point bumpers, the Irish Horse Racing Regulatory Board (IHRB) have made a number of positive amendments to the existing Hunters Steeplechase licence.

The previous licence permitted handlers to train a maximum of two horses, with these two horses required to be family-owned by either the handler’s mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughters. This prevented them from training horses for these races on behalf of members of the public.

Crucially, these two restrictions have now been removed, ensuring there is no limit on the number of horses they can train, while the horses are also no longer required to be family owned.

The IHRB have made the amendments in the hope that they will increase the number of licences that are taken out and consequently, the number of runners within these races.

Limerick handler Brian Mortell has almost single-handedly led the campaign, beginning with his letter to the editor of this paper in March of this year, brought about by his frustration at not being able to run his own horse, Three Loud Knocks, in the point-to-point bumper at Cork over Easter.

Following the IHRB’s decision earlier this week, he explained why he had sought to have changes made to the old Hunter Steeplechase licence.

“We were licenced to run in point-to-points and when we were lucky enough to get an animal that was good enough to go to the track, all of a sudden we were stopped and we couldn’t do for the simple reason that we didn’t have a licence.

“For me to run my horse in the point-to-point bumper in Mallow, I had to send the horse to Andrew McNamara for 10 days for him to run him, which I thought was grossly unfair.

“A permit holder in England can actually run a horse without needing to get a licence, so that is where I got it from. I just started on my own, I wrote to The Irish Field and then started talking to a few people here and there and it got a little bit of legs.

“I went to the point-to-point review meeting last season and I got a good bit of support from Josh Byrne in the Turf Club and from the Handlers’ Association. It just took legs from there and I just kept pushing it.”

The licence will allow handlers to run in approximately 30 races here under rules, including hunter chases, point-to-point bumpers, and also the banks races at Punchestown.

“It is bringing the small person back into racing. One of the things that I noticed last year in Mallow on the day that my horse ran, there were 15 people who went racing because he was running. None of them would have went racing without Three Loud Knocks being there.

“If that was the case on one day, if 25 or 30 people were to get this licence, you could have another 250 or 300 people going racing because of the point-to-point bumper or hunter chase on the card. We need to attract people into racing,” added Mortell, who was understandably quick to complete his licence application form and will sit his assessment on Monday afternoon.

The other criteria pertaining to the €410 licence remain the same, with applicants required to complete a practical assessment at RACE, a stable inspection and interview with the Licensing Committee, among other requirements.

Application forms, including further details on what is required to obtain the new Hunters Steeplechase licence, can be downloaded from the IHRB website, www.ihrb.ie and further assessment courses will be run to meet demand as it arises.

OLDER HORSES

There was further good news from the IHRB with their announcement of a valuable race to support older horses.

Worth €5,000, the race is being targeted at the traditional older point-to-point horse and will be confined to horses that are at least six-years-old and who had not won a race before the start of the point-to-point season. In keeping with the rules of all winners’ races, horse cannot also have ever won under rules.

This is a great initial boost for older horses, and it is of further encouragement that the IHRB will working towards introducing further similarly valuable races within each of the regions.