AFTER 18 months of behind closed doors point-to-point racing, today marks the long-awaited return of spectators to the fields, when the new season gets under way with a six-race card at Oldcastle beginning at 2pm this afternoon.

The Ballymacad Foxhounds take charge of the season-opening fixture having been one of the point-to-point committees that lost their spring fixture due to the suspension of the sport earlier in the year. After those tribulations the prospect of being able to return the fixture to something as close to normal as is possible under the current guidelines is something that their committee are certainly looking forward to.