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As seen in this week’s Racing Post:
Licensed trainer David Dennis had a pleasant surprise this week – a near £4,000 bonus thanks to one of British point-to-pointing’s longest and most loyal supporters, the Jockey Club.
In May 2024 the mare Imperial Pride won a seven-runner race titled the Jockey Club Mares’ Maiden Final at Chaddesley Corbett in Worcestershire. The winning trainer, Oliver Bowd, is an assistant to Northamptonshire-based Dennis.
In the winner’s enclosure it was announced Imperial Pride would be switched to Dennis’s yard to chase a bonus the Jockey Club had incorporated into its series, which for this season involved 13 races plus the final.
Conditions state the finale winner can double any prize-money they earn up to £10,000 on their first, second or third run at a Jockey Club racecourse, while the second and third can do likewise up to £5,000.
A month after her victory Imperial Pride was unplaced at Newton Abbot, then went to Jockey Club-owned Market Rasen and finished third, winning £880, which was doubled. The David Dennis Racing Club, in whose colours she ran, was delighted to get a handy top-up.
She was subsequently pulled up at Jockey Club-owned Huntingdon in December, and then returned to that course on Sunday where she won a handicap chase worth £4,048 to the winner.
It was the mare’s third run at a Jockey Club course, so I contacted Dennis to see if his mare had won a second bonus and he said the double-money bonus had been paid out when she finished third. The rather nebulous wording for the conditions state ‘first, second or third run at any Jockey Club racecourse’ which can be read two ways – first, second or third run, but only one of the three, or as first and also second and also third runs.
Keen to clarify I contacted The Jockey Club, and a very helpful Matt Woolston called back to say the bonus is paid on each of the first three occasions in which the mares run at a Jockey Club course. If she runs four times at independent Newton Abbot beforehand the bonus is not jeopardised. “We’re delighted to support point-to-pointing,” said Woolston, “although trainers have to notify us if they believe they are owed a bonus. It requires manual intervention – it’s not set up for an automatic payment from Weatherbys.”
The broader issue is that point-to-pointing can be a pleasant afternoon out for people from all backgrounds, many of whom are once-a-year picnic partyers, but it also plays an important role as a supply line into racing under rules and as a receptacle for ex-hurdlers/chasers. The Jockey Club has long recognised it, as has the Levy Board, which this season upped its financial support by creating a £250,000 pot that is being used to pay bonuses of £25,000 and £15,000 to winners in the GB Pointing Young Horse Maiden Series if they score under rules within two years.
Now that the bonus associated with the Jockey Club Mares’ Maiden Series has been clarified, point-to-point trainers should be targeting it with rigour.
Meanwhile, I will be hanging around the beer tent the next time Dennis is at a point-to-point, although he says he will happily be first at the bar. Since his daughter, Tilly, is currently riding in the sport on a grand ex-chaser and schoolmaster called Innisfree Lad, I won’t have to wait long.
Stepping off a horse is a simple process, except at speed.
Izzie Hill, Britain’s national women’s champion in 2023-24, found herself air-walking during a schooling session in November, landed on her feet (not in a good way) and suffered a spiral fracture of the lower tibia into her ankle. She said: “I landed slightly awkwardly – all that energy has to go somewhere.”
With more than 500 rides and 135-odd winners Hill is no novice, and she has married into Alan and Lawney Hill’s family which is immersed in racing, yet admits her knowledge of the Injured Jockeys Fund and rehabilitation centre Oaksey House in Lambourn was rather scant, in part because she had managed to avoid long-term injury.
She said: “I was involved in racing and appreciated the IJF was carrying out vital work, but had no idea of the levels at which it operates.” She was speaking while crutched up at Kingston Blount racecourse near her Oxfordshire home on Saturday. “I want people to know how fantastic the IJF has been, as have all the people involved in helping me towards recovery.”
Three weeks after surgery she started visiting Oaksey House three days a week, initially to spend time in the hydrotherapy pool while receiving instruction on how to exercise in a weightless environment. She subsequently progressed to an anti-gravity treadmill, which can be adjusted to support different percentages of a person’s weight and she has benefited from mobilisation techniques for the broken joint and massage to damaged tendons.
Her visits now include time spent in the gym with elite sports physiotherapists and there is help with nutrition and mental health, for as Hill said: “Thinking of professional jockeys, going from 60 to nought overnight leads to a different lifestyle.”
She also conveys heartfelt gratitude to Dr Jerry Hill (no relation), who was due to retire at the end of last year from the role of chief medical adviser to the BHA, but who remains active. “He’s been amazing,” said Hill. “At the drop of a hat he’ll be on the phone at any time of the day or week with advice. When I had to discuss with my surgeon the latest scans Dr Hill joined the conversation and helped me understand some of the fine detail.”
Hill is resigned to missing the rest of the season, but it gives her time to make a plan. She said: “I’m a bit restricted at the moment, but when I’m fit I want to do something to raise money for the IJF.”
Great idea, Izzie. How about a 24-hour game of patience or knitting Oxfordshire’s longest scarf? Please don’t try a parachute jump or one of those feet-first luge jobs down the Cresta Run.
