Dublin Racing Festival was outstanding but omission of hunter chase remains a sore point

Last weekend’s action, both at the Dublin Racing Festival and across the Irish Sea at Sandown, was the latest advert for the exploits of horses progressing from the point-to-point field.

The winning performances of Final Demand, Handstands and Ballyburn brought the tally for the current campaign of Grade 1 successes for ex-Irish pointers to 14, while, across the 15 races of the Dublin Racing Festival, six went the way of horses who began their careers between the flags on these shores.

Without wanting to find fault with what was undoubtedly an outstanding two days of racing at Leopardstown, it was difficult to accept the continued exclusion of a hunter chase from the Dublin Racing Festival programme while watching horses rated 119, 109 and 117 fill the first three positions in a mares’ handicap hurdle worth €100,000.

It does remain a sore point for those followers of the point-to-point and hunter division that a place still cannot be found across this high-profile weekend for a hunter chase.

Previously, the Foxrock venue hosted a hunter chase, best known as the Raymond Smith Memorial, which was staged directly after the Irish Gold Cup, providing horses, handlers and riders within this division with their chance to shine.

Typically, it was one of the most informative races of the season within the category, with horses such as On The Fringe, Salsify, Tammys Hill and Foxrock featuring among the list of winners in the years up to its removal from the Leopardstown schedule when the Dublin Racing Festival card was created in 2018.

The race has been rehomed and will feature on Saturday's card at Naas, where it is valued at €13,500, a decrease on the €16,000 of the final edition at Leopardstown eight years ago.

That said, it still remains a key race on the road to the big spring festivals, with Billaway completing the Naas and Cheltenham double in 2022, while last year Its On The Line overcame attritional conditions to return victorious before following up at the Aintree and Punchestown festivals in the spring.

While Saturday's running should be no less informative, given its significance and the fact that all the major spring festivals see merit in including a hunter chase, there really is no excuse for the Dublin Racing Festival to remain the outlier.

Weekend fixtures

Saturday
Kirkistown, first race 1pm

Sunday
Comea, 1pm
Tallow, 1pm

Read more here:

Four-year-old maidens back on Sunday but early entries suffer another sharp decline 

Jonbon and Constitution Hill showing exceptional two-milers can come from Irish pointing sphere 

Con's Roc and Milan Forth testament to strength of hunter chase division 

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