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.