General / Jeremy Grayson / 15 February 2009 / Leave a comment

Jeremy Grayson has got his hunter chase / point-to-point evangelist's hat on this week. Will any of his advice on these types of races convert the non-believers?

The most enduring link that National Hunt Rules racing still maintains to its amateur roots? Or a dumping ground for lardy, superannuated horses and riders with little left to offer the sport? The very existence of hunter chases (and therefore by association point-to-points) polarises opinion.

Their arrival each year is greeted as enthusiastically by some punters as finding only half a maggot in an apple, but they are the races that yield me my best results by far; and having found both the Cheltenham Foxhunters winner Amicelli and Pertemps Cup victor Harlov last season I know I've a hell of a lot to live up to this.

Ever the sharing type, I thought I'd pass on some mantras that have always served me particularly well in hunter chases and point-to-points. If you can work any to your own advantage, please do!

1) Familiarise yourself with the assorted hunter and pointing form guides, information repositories, etc., in particular www.pointtopoint.co.uk, www.p2p.ie, Mackenzine and Harris's Hunter Chasers & Point-To-Pointers Annual (which reviews everything about the previous hunter and pointing season in its trademark withering style), and Weatherbys Loose-Leaf Update (a weekly version of the same issued during the current season),

2) Profit from rival punters' wider ignorance of the hunter chase sphere that sees so many professionally-trained horses sent off at tiny odds ahead of those from less "sexy" yards, irrespective of whether they've actually still got the profile of 3m chase winners (or ever had it).

I love to lay Paul Nicholls' hunter chasers, especially once they've got their first run out of the way. 26 runners for the yard in hunters during 2007 and 2008 yielded eight winners - ostensibly a decent strike-rate, but 17 of those runners had gone off favourite and 11 of these odds-on.

Disregard each runner's first hunter chase start of each season, and the return becomes just five wins from 19 runners - a 2-1, a 13-8 and three odds-on.

Routinely opposing them from their second start onwards highlights the fact that the positive effect of their conversion to this sphere of racing isn't sustained to a great extent, even if market confidence is. I was happy to let Ofarel D'Airy and Royal Auclair win on debut in the last couple of weeks, but I'll master them long-term!

3) Scour the information sources mentioned above for mention of emerging training and riding talent in the point-to-point arena, and be prepared to invest in it quickly when making the transition to hunter chasing before everyone else cottons on.

Rhys Flint's five winners from 12 rides in hunter chases last Spring (including two on the aforementioned Harlov) weren't too surprising to those of us who'd followed him between the flags that term, and his near-22 point profit to a level stake from those rides constituted a most welcome gift.

She's not as prodigious a talent as Flint (who possibly could be?!?), but I'm going to monitor the progress of Jenny Carr closely. She made some far more experienced jockeys look proper 'nanas in stealing a lady riders' hunter chase final on a 16-1 shot at Stratford last May, and her win on a Jonjo O'Neill runner in a Ludlow hurdle recently should bring her to wider attention.

4) Point-to-point course configurations (available on www.pointtopoint.co.uk and in more detail in the Annual) are not beamed down from the moon - they offer the same variety of orientation, topography and stiffness as their Rules counterparts, and as such withstand comparison.

Caveman's demolition job in a Mens Open point at Ampton last month marked him out as notably effective around a right-hand track with a punishing uphill finish. In light of which, I have placed maximum significance in connections subsequently stating that hunter chases around the similar Towcester are on the agenda shortly, and I'll be lumping on accordingly.

I hope the above is of some interest. One thing's for sure, Nicholls is unlikely to curtail interest in hunter chases any time soon, so I'll be fascinated to see if the trend I've unearthed here becomes any more pronounced over time. And if you're still no keener on (p)laying on hunter chases than you were beforehand, worry not - you only have to endure another 110 of the bleeders this term...