THE 2018/19 season may still only be in its infancy with the eighth fixture of the campaign set to take place at Loughbrickland this afternoon, but attention has already turned to the new year with the publication of the spring 2019 fixture list.

Covering the five months from the end of December to the June bank holiday weekend, a total of 79 fixtures have been scheduled.

The Duhallow Kanturk fixture at Dromahane over the Christmas period marks the beginning of the spring campaign on December 30th. Having not taken place in 2017, its return has had the knock-on effect of pushing many of the fixtures on the Cork-Waterford circuit back by a week, in comparison with 12 months ago.

The end result of that slight reshuffle, is that there is no date available for the end of season charity meeting at Dromahane, which was first introduced two years ago in order to fill a rare blank Sunday on the calendar.

Run with the assistance of the Irish Point-to-Point Handlers Association, the fixture raised considerable sums for the Injured Jockeys Fund and the association’s chairman Gerry Kelleher was full of praise for the support they received from across the point-to-point community in order to run it.

Kelleher said: “There was a blank Sunday in May 2017 and we felt that for that time of the year when handlers are so keen to run their horses on some better ground, that it was mad for the day to have no racing. A few of us said we would run the meeting and it has been a great success.

“It has been very well supported, not just by handlers, but right across the point-to-point community. We just went about it a different way – we introduced a bit of music, a dog show, pony rides, pony racing and over the two years, we were able to raise money for such a worthwhile cause in the Injured Jockeys.

“Unfortunately we don’t have a date as everything has moved out by a week, but it was great that we were able to do that for the sport.”

That Dromahane fixture is one of a number of point-to-point race days which had featured on the 2018 fixture list that are absent from this year’s list of dates, with the overall number of race meetings set to decrease by four.

The traditional two-day Killultagh, Old Rock & Chichester meeting at Largy, which takes place on the lands of Grand National sponsor Randox, has been moved from its usual April date, and will now bring the point-to-point season in the northern region to a close, with a standalone meeting on May 18th. Not only is their new date the latest in the season they have run a race meeting at the course, but also the first time that they have been scheduled to run for just one day there.

LONG-AWAITED

Following an 18-year absence, the long-awaited return of the Oriels to the point-to-point calendar was blighted by two cancellations in the spring.

Their return last May was due to coincide with grand plans to feature sheep racing, an artisan food fair, craft tent and indoor seated pavilion alongside the point-to-point racing, however fixture secretary Eugene Larkin has said that their course at Tallanstown must pass an inspection in the coming weeks before it will receive a date for 2019.

One of the most concerning developments to arise from the publication of the 2019 fixture list, is the absence of the Co. Limerick Foxhounds meeting at Cragmore. First introduced in February 2015, the course is one of the biggest point-to-point tracks in the country, and its inaugural year will forever be remembered as the day that Derek O’Connor recorded his historic 1,000th point-to-point winner aboard the now dual Grade 1 winner Death Duty.

Secretary for the meeting Ros Easom revealed that her committee have struggled to attract help from volunteers, which had already forced them to hire in paid workers to assist in the course preparations.

Having struggled through in recent years with the limited help that was available to them, they are understandably not in a position to continue to do so into 2019.

Their predicament is one that many point-to-point committees across the country will understand, and it further highlights the importance of volunteers who lend their help, not just on the day of racing itself, but in the weeks and months before and after the meeting.

RESHUFFLE

The mid-February date left vacant by Cragmore has resulted in a small reshuffle to the dates of a number of other meetings.

The North Tipperary’s fixture at Nenagh will move from its traditional end of January date to Sunday February 17th. This has allowed Kilfeacle to run a week later on Sunday January 27th, ensuring that Killeagh will now be a standalone fixture on the weekend of Sunday January 20th.

Already a very popular fixture in its own right, the Cork venue will likely be further boosted by this.

In total just seven fixtures will be held throughout January 2019. Many within the industry have pointed to the difficulty of running a meeting at this time of the year, a point not lost, when it is considered that all fixtures which ran last January, with the exception of Tinahely and Tyrella, saw their entry numbers fall on the previous year, and in some cases the decreases were quite notable.

It is clearly not an easy month for hunts to run a point-to-point, and hopefully this season, those hunts will be supported to encourage them to continue to do so for many years to come.

The South-Eastern region will be extended in 2019, as the Bree’s will run an additional meeting at Monksgrange. The Wexford venue will host racing on March 31st and April 28th. With a significant proportion of the horse population for point-to-points now residing within the county, there have understandably been calls for racing in the region to run deeper into the spring.

“We were approached by a number of local handlers to see if we would look at running a second meeting to extend the racing here a bit longer. We spoke with Josh (Byrne) in the Turf Club and he was very accommodating,” explained meeting secretary Mary Bolger.

“We have a very good committee here and the local handlers are always very good to give us a hand. It will take a lot of work as the track will have to be walked back in the morning after the first meeting and we may also have to move fences and railing depending on the ground, in order to have everything right for the second date.”