Point to points

swedish chef

swedish chef

At the Start
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
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The reason I started this thread is that I noticed a horse running today in a Hunter Chase at Kelso today called Quotica De Poyans and last March I was told or read that this horse was a bit special. Duly backed it at 9/4 early and it opened 4/1 and hacked up. Then I was wondering why no one bought it to run under rules.

This got me thinking that I actually know very little about Point to pointing and wondered if the more knowledgeable members could enlighten me on the subject. Best courses to visit, courses near London, what happens at these events, costs, what you should wear, your experiences, trainers, jockeys, horses and anything of interest.
 
I know almost all of the West Country tracks if you’re planning to venture that far. I used to ride out for a couple of very small trainers in Somerset, and help out with taking horses to the races, leading up etc.

Costs - most meetings charge per car (often around £20), though some will give a discount if there’s only one occupant in the vehicle.

Clothes – wrap up warm! There’s often little in the way of shelter and the courses tend to be quite exposed to wind etc.

Horses – quite a mixed bag. Some decent NH performers on their way down the ranks, some promising youngsters destined for better things, and some slow old Hunters...

Trainers – a wide range in terms of ability and how seriously they take it. Some training operations aren’t far off the decent NH yards. In the west, people like Richard Barber, who almost acts as a ‘feeder’ yard for Paul Nicholls, and Sarah Hobbs (wife of Phillip). David Pipe used to train pointers before he took over from Martin. At the other end of the scale there are people with one or two horses that simply love the sport and do it for a hobby.

It’s a great sport – let me know if you need any specific advice re any of the West Country tracks.
 
Thanks to all who have replied so far - what's the atmosphere like and what do you do for food.

In my imagination the crowd are local or related to the connections of the horses and on first name terms. There's a hog roast on the go, someone selling home-made jams and many a hip flask.
 
I'm hoping to be at one of the South-East's PtP's at South Godstone this Sunday (Tim McCarthy's spread), but he's a bit morose about the going - thinks it'll be pure slush. Chef, when I went before there was a burger van, a couple of stalls selling country clothing and tack, and that was about it. The crowd is local and the county's hunts' people and followers. Not sure about flogging off home-made jams - that sounds more like a WI fete, but perhaps some do!

I found the card utterly confusing as the same horses are entered up multiply throughout it! So you go to back XYZ in the first, then see he's entered in the third and the sixth - it seems bizarre that you wait until the connections decide which one the horse will run in on the day. The fields were very small on the day I went - I think the max was six in one race, and three in two others.
 
Atmosphere is usually pretty good - far more casual than racing under rules and no gate men check you have the right badge on. Plenty of well known racing figures attend as well - P Nicholls is a regular on the West Country circuit as is David Pipe and they are quite happy to wander around chatting to anyone and everyone.
Virtually all points are run by Hunts and they will provide a refreshment tent - some better than others. If you come to ours (West Somerset Hunt at Holnicote), I can assure you the sandwiches and cakes are of the very highest order. There is also a beer tent at most courses too.
Clothes wise - you want to take wellies in case it is muddy and just general casual clothes - jeans/trousers & a decent warm coat.
Racecards are usually £2.50 - £3 and have all the entries in them. The announcer will then read out the declared horses or you can mark them off from the runners board - so don't forget a pen that works.
The RP weekender has a decent Point-to-point pull out every week with the entries in it so you have some idea of what will be going. You may recognise some ex-NH horses running in the Open Races.
Its alot of fun and I have really got back into it over the last 3 years - being involved with last season's leading horse, Fully Loaded (9 wins from 12 starts - not bad for a horse that cost £2K and is trained on a farm!), certainly helped. He is out for the year sadly, but we still have 2 horses on the go with another one in the pipeline.
 
Your hunt must be more sophisticated than the South Down and Erridge, j/j! No refreshment tent and the beer was out of another little van. I think there was also an ice cream van or something similar, but that was it. £10 entrance fee.
 
All the West Somerset seem to do is think about food, Kri - you should come to one of the meets - roast potatoes, sandwiches, sausage rolls, sausages baked in honey, assorted cakes and choccy things and plenty of liquor on offer - port, whisky, mulled wine etc.
The Refreshment tent has always been a big thing at the point-to-point though - I ended up co-running it the year before last (participation in charity race stopped me last year) so I make sure that the food on offer is worth buying.
 
P2P at Shipton out past Oxford is a good venue and I regularly attend BRayfield and Market Harborough. They have beer tents, hounds, stalls, even fairground rides sometimes. If the bookies weren't such stingy buggers at point to points i'd go more often. Betting at these events really is a need to know thing. They are a great day out though and i'd say probably better than going to the races as a day out.

Pack plenty of food and drink into the car, remember a pen and off you go.
 
Is it Dingley P2P you go to near Market H Aragorn?

Can fully recommend a trip to Whitfield (just East of Brackley) SC - great new course with full watering system and generally large fields - the two meets i've been to there in Feb have had 10 and 11 races.

Godstone this Sunday is probably your nearest SC - if you're in South London then Detling in Kent isn't too far to travel really (I'll be going there a week on Sunday if you're about).

The main issue is the declarations - you declare roughly 45 minutes before the race so there'll be a lot of tooing and frowing with connections to the decs tent to see who's entered in what and who is there to ride if you change race and the like or in some cases waiting to see if X hotpot fav is declared to run in the Maiden.

Pointing is like all racing SC - there are strong and weak areas, traditionally the South West/Cornwall is strong and an area like the North West is weak. Northern (ie. North Yorkshire and Scotland) is somewhere in between - a horse like QDP is from a very good yard who have plenty of success in points, and seem to be doing well with their young French-breds (Rapidolyte De Ladalka looked a decent maiden winner last season but hasn't really gone on). Chris Dawson rode QDP yesterday as his regular jockey Kelly Bryson was injured in a fall last Sunday at Overton - would expect she'll be back on board next time (injury permitting).

As for best courses quality wise you can't go far wrong with Larkhill (North of Salisbury) - as mentioned earlier Barber often runs his there, was there myself last month where he ran two nice winners in the two divisions of the Restricted race (Dualla Lord and Bucks Bond - the latter being a relative of Big Bucks).

If you're in the South East I recommend you follow Phil York and Nick Pearce as jockeys, Tom Ellis is another good SE jockey. Personally I don't think you can go too far wrong following the Andrews sisters either (Gina and Bridget) wherever they ride, particularly Bridget in Novice Riders races and Jack Quinlan is another good, young amateur. Tom Weston is another good amateur and then it's the usual suspects - Richard Burton, Richard Woolacott, John Mathias and the like.

Best refreshment I've had was at the Larkhill meeting where there were a couple serving hot, spiced apple juice which helped matters.

Cottenham is a nice course too - ex-rules with a small grandstand but basically most P2P tracks are fields with a few fences and railings in them. Godstone normally end up with small enough fields and yep you're right a lot of the crowd are on first name terms with the trainers and jockeys, it's easy enough to ask a trainer what he thinks of his in a race and the like (as always though you can never tell if he's telling you the truth or not!).

Any more questions etc. or if you're going to a meet then drop me a PM.

Martin :)
ps. the Jumping For Fun discussion forum is easily the best place for P2P chat.
 
Glad I took the 1.01 that Gina 'well I thought there was a gap 5 horses wide' Andrews would get a positive mention.
 
Thanks Martin, I'll try and free up a Sunday soon and pm you.

This Sunday I'm cooking a large family dinner and I'm up in Derby possibly the weekend after to visit family.
 
There was an entire from Larkhill
Who swallowed an atom bomb pill.
The remains of his arse
Were found in the grass
And his balls
On a hill in Brazil.
 
Yorkie's the best jockey riding in the south east, and up in the best riding in the midlands and south of England at least. Talking of which, he should ride at least one winner at Godstone on Sunday on Coka if she runs in the mare's maiden.
 
Shadow Leader said:
Yorkie's the best jockey riding in the south east, and up in the best riding in the midlands and south of England at least. Talking of which, he should ride at least one winner at Godstone on Sunday on Coka if she runs in the mare's maiden.
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I'd have Phil down as a decent handler, but when the hell did he become a capable jockey?
 
Comealong Cornwall will be tough to beat in the Intermediate at Godstone if he turns up and Nick Pearce saddles half the entrants in the Members in the shape of Florence Mary (Mares Maiden winner at this meeting last year) and Louisthenineteenth who won a Maiden in Ireland at Taylorstown last May.
 
rorydelargy said:
I'd have Phil down as a decent handler, but when the hell did he become a capable jockey?
Click to expand...

Watch him ride in a point and you'll see what I mean. He's different gear in a point, knows his tracks well and where to be at a given time, he's strong as well. I'd say you've only seen him riding under rules, he's a different beast riding in points.
 
Shadow Leader said:
Watch him ride in a point and you'll see what I mean. He's different gear in a point, knows his tracks well and where to be at a given time, he's strong as well. I'd say you've only seen him riding under rules, he's a different beast riding in points.
Click to expand...
That would make sense I'm sure - he's definitely got his head screwed on. I did see his finest moment as I'm sure you'd agree, when winning a crap handicap chase at Lingfield on Star Glow. :p
 
I hope you're not dissing Luke there, poor old boy! That was a fine moment indeed.

Phil's ridden over 200 winners and is still booting them home now, hopefully he can add the 2011 Foxhunters to his list of races won.
 
Might as well add this in here:

Gone For Lunch won one of the Classics of the P2P season at Larkhill today the Coronation Gold Cup as the 5/4 favourite.

Elsewhere on the card Dualla Lord made it 3 from 3 (1 Irish Maiden, a Restricted here last month and now todays Intermediate) - officially returned a 2/5 favourite in this under Paul Nicholls nephew Harry Derham for owner Marianne Barber. I expect this horse to make a big impact under rules in 2011/12.
 
Surely GONE TO LUNCH, Martin? That'll be his second in a row since coming back from a life-threatening condition, which is just fabulous news. Loved this horse under Rules and am delighted to hear he's continuing to thrive round the fields.

Got a call tonight to remind me I'm supposed to be at a birthday lunch tomorrow, which I'd totally forgotten about, so that's S. Godstone tapped on the head. I was looking forward to it, too. Never mind, I'll try to get to another.
 
That's the one Kri - I got the important bits right ;)

Detling next Sunday in Sunny Kent is the next South East meeting Kri and Godstone race in the middle of next month too and again in April, will be warmer for you at least if you do go.
 
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