THERE was a further boost for the point-to-point sector with the publication of the Horse Racing Ireland Budget for 2019, which featured a third consecutive prize money increase for the sport.

When the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed announced a €3.2 million increase to the HRI budget for 2019 back in October, hopes were high that some of the extra funding would reach point-to-pointing, in the form of this additional prize money grant for fixtures in the New Year.

That has come to fruition as the prize money for point-to-points will increase by 13% in 2019, with this additional funding being targeted specifically at races for older horses, as has been the case for the past two years.

The increase translates into an additional €250 being added to the prize fund for all races with the exception of the commercially lucrative four and five-year-old maidens.

This will bring the prize money for all other races to a minimum of €1,750, with one further race on each card continuing to be worth an additional €200, bringing those to €1,950.

The United Lisgoold meeting at Templencarriga and Kilmoganny at Mainstown fixtures, will be the first two point-to-points of 2019 to feature the increased prize fund.

According to the entry forms for both, it will be the novice riders open at Templencarriga that is worth €1,950, while at Mainstown, it will be the horses racing in the mares’ winner of one that will chase the biggest prize fund on the day.

The prize money increases have brought Horse Racing Ireland’s total funding for point-to-points, including the integrity services provided by the IHRB, to €2.9 million.

This latest prize money increase was understandably very well received by the Irish Point-to-Point Handlers Association, who have been lobbying for this for the past three years, when the prize money for all races stood at just €800.

“We are over the moon. When we set up the Handlers Association, we went to HRI with a three-year plan and the overall figure that we are looking to bring the prize money to is €2,000. It is still a work in progress with it,” said the association’s chairman Gerry Kelleher.

“We met with Brian Kavanagh in November and we were very well received. He was very helpful and promised us on the day that he would do the very best that he could for us, which he did. Big praise and thanks has to go to him for it all.

“The feedback at Boulta on Sunday was all very positive. I spoke to a good few handlers on the day, the likes of Jimmy Mangan, Ross O’Sullivan, Liam Burke, Aidan Fitzgerald and Robert Tyner, and they were delighted with it.

“They are very happy with where things are going at the moment.

“Looking back, the prize money was only at €800 when we set up the Handlers Association and now we are up to €1,750.

“Our aim is to attract the owners and handlers that have been lost out of the game since the recession, and get them back involved again.”

Since the recession, it has been the commercially lucrative four and five-year-old maidens’, races which are exempt from these prize money increases, that have been propping up the sport.

In recent times however, positive signs are beginning to emerge from those races for older horses that have been the target of this funding support.

At the West Waterford fixture in Boulta, the biggest race on the card was not the four-year-old geldings’ maiden, as we have become so accustomed to. Instead, it was the five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden that drew a total of 43 entries, nine more than that four-year-old maiden.

The open lightweight on the same card attracted 31 entries, which was close to matching the four-year-old entry.

A return to the good old times is not going to be achieved overnight, but this prize money increase is certainly a very welcome move, and is the latest positive step that is beginning to have an impact.

“Over the last few weeks, I have felt that there is a real atmosphere coming back,” continued Kelleher.

“It was a tough day in Boulta with the weather, but back at Ballindenisk the week before, I got the feeling that this game is coming back and back to the buzz that it had four or five years ago.

“Turnover in the betting ring was up at Ballindenisk, there was a great crowd at it and it created a brilliant atmosphere. We will keep working, and keep striving to improve the game as best that we can.”