Britain’s most valuable point-to-point takes place on Saturday week . . . but not at a venue in England.
The Scottish track of Overton in Lanarkshire is putting up prize money which the Planner states is worth £7,500, narrowly ahead of the £7,250 which Flete Park offered at a fixture last season. The Worcestershire meeting at Chaddesley Corbett on April 20 can boast the most valuable single race, the £2,400 Lady Dudley Cup with prize money down to eighth place, but the total value of the meeting is £4,150.
Explaining the background to Overton’s lucrative fixture, which is being run in the name of the Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire & Eglinton, course owner Wassels Young says: “It all starts from promoting the meeting, and we are fairly good at the hospitality side of the job. We have some very good and loyal sponsors and we’ve managed to squeeze a bit more out of them, but we do give them value for money.
“We wine and dine them and their clients for the day, we provide them with a race video and they get a good day out.”
Those sponsors include local builder Steve Thompson of STSC Construction and Gouldings Garden Centre, who Young says are long-standing backers of point-to-point racing at Overton.
He adds: “I have three point-to-pointers of my own, so I’m not looking for more competition on the day, but it is good for the crowd to have horses and jockeys, and by putting up such good prize money I am hoping we attract runners from far and wide.”
Overton may currently be Britain’s most northern venue, but it is easily accessed from the motorway and has avoided much of the rain which has fallen in recent months. The fences are out on the course, and, given a recent spate of abandoned or postponed fixtures, a precautionary entry might be prudent.
The seven-race card offers prize money to fourth place, there is a £250 bonus for the leading owner and a prize for the top rider, plus two pony races with prizes for all. Entry for the public costs £15 to include a race card, and there are still places in the hospitality marquee where diners pay £47.50 a head.