I was talking to a former leading rider before racing began at the new Fairyhouse point-to-point track. He was very enthusiastic that the races at that meeting were run with 17 fences making it the track with most jumps on this island. He was of the opinion that there should be a minimum of 15 fences for all races over three miles as jumping is the name of the game.

I thoroughly agreed with him but, in order to hold costs down, hunts do not wish to hire more than five separate fences. The practicalities of this means that in many cases 14 obstacles become a necessary reality. However, there are 12 tracks already used this year where 16 fences are jumped. As all possess just five fences, this implies that they are circuits of less than one mile.