As part of a £4million plus range of initiatives aimed at increasing GB foal numbers and improving the number and quality of GB horses, HBLB have confirmed their support for a new bonus scheme aimed at British point-to-point horses.
The scheme comprises a fifteen race 4-&-5-year-old enhanced Maiden series, taking place on the most suitable point-to-point courses at the best time of year, with the winner of each qualifying for a £25,000 bonus (GB bred) or £15,000 bonus (non-GB bred) when they win under rules trained by a British based trainer.
Paul Miller, Point-to-Point Authority Chief Executive said “We’ve been working on this idea for a few months with both the High-Quality Horse group, led by Lydia Hislop, and The Jockey Club. It’s only one strand of several new initiatives we’re introducing this season and is indicative of the growing relationships we’re forming across the wider racing community. Support for pointing from racing stakeholders has never been stronger, and we’ve a number of new announcements to make ahead of the coming season which starts in November.”
The recent HBLB press-release stated “Winners of these races will qualify for a bonus when they win their first development race over hurdles or fences under Rules during the next two core Jump seasons. The bonus payments will be £25,000 for a British-bred horse and £15,000 for a horse bred elsewhere.”
Miller continued “By managing where and when the series races take place, it is hoped they will be more competitive, producing not only better-quality winners but also placed horses. Although inevitably many of them will go to the sales ring before moving under-rules, these horses were probably always destined to do that anyway. Producing higher quality winners should also produce higher sales figures, which will give us some great headlines to market. It is anticipated this will in turn attract more young horses to start out pointing, with the hope being many will stay, boost our numbers and progress through the levels. It’s also hoped that we’ll see some big futures stars and household names start out this way.”