Owners & Keepers
This section of the website is intended to provide everything that an owner or keeper of point-to-pointers (effectively, anyone with an ‘authority to act’), needs to know. It is split into sections to help you find what you need
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Finding a horse and keeper (point-to-point trainer)
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Registering the horse for point-to-points
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Entering and declaring the horse
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Sponsorship
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What to expect on the day
Please contact the PPA Office on info@p2pa.co.uk or
01793 781990
Some of you have been asking where on the website you can find the information you are most likely to need, so – to help you – we have created a new section from where you can download the documents and forms you use most often.
Length of ‘Racing Season’ and National Championships
The official end of the racing season will be Spring Bank Holiday Monday, May 27th, and the results that count towards the National Championships will also finish on that day. However, the actual season will continue for a further two weeks to allow the Tiverton Staghounds and Torrington Farmers to continue to run on their traditional weekend dates after the Spring Bank Holiday, providing they remain at their current courses. NB: all results will be included in official records, as do walkovers.
Changes to Keeper Responsibilities
From the 23-24 season onwards:
- Where an Owner has placed a horse with a Keeper, the Keeper will become responsible for all breaches of the Regulations 'as if the Owner'.
- No action will be taken against the Keeper where it can be shown that any breach of the Regulations was the result of an action by the Owner, to which the Keeper was not a party, in which case the Owner will be responsible.
In practical terms, this means that a Keeper will have to have signed at least one Hunter Certificate to confirm that (s)he has understood and accepted his/her new responsibilities. We have used this opportunity to adjust both the Hunter Certificate Registration form, to be more in line with how the information is entered on to the system, and the confirmation letters.
NB 1: An owner can retain responsibility if they wish, but in such cases, the Keeper will not be responsible for their actions/activities.
NB 2: Weatherbys will not register a horse without the Keeper’s signature if they can find no record of that signature having been provided for another horse in same season. It is therefore strongly recommended that you get the signature or provide the name of a horse already registered with the Keeper’s signature.
NB 3: Only one person can be registered to make entries online. This is a requirement of the current software.
Paddock Attendants' Clothing and Names.
The name of the Keeper or Owner may appear on the attendant's clothign in the paddock even if not sponsored (see Appendix L to Regulations 23-24
Race Conditions
There have been some minor changes to ensure the regulations are stating the rules as was originally intended. E.g. point-to-point races, whether flat or over jumps, have the same stipulations regarding licensed trainers. However, there has been one significant change:
Restricted Race. The change is to allow a winner of a Restricted race to continue running in such races, with a 5lb penalty. After a second win, the horse moves to Intermediate level, the conditions for which remain the same.
Definition. A Restricted Point-to-Point steeplechase is a race open to any horse, except where further restrictions have been imposed, which, at starting, has not won any race under the Rules of any Recognised Racing Authority other than National Hunt Flat races or Flat races, or any Point-to-Point Steeplechase other than Maiden Races, Hunt/Members races or no more than one Restricted race.
Penalties. A winner of one Restricted Race will carry a 5lb penalty.
Amendment to Reg 122 (iii). Late amendment to Reg 122 (iii) in soft copy online but not your hard copy. This now reads:
- Reg 122 (iii) If a horse runs the wrong side of a direction post or flag or misses a fence their Rider shall turn back and ride the course correctly from such point of the race, or they shall pull up. A Rider who takes the incorrect course and/or fails to pull up shall be guilty of an offence and, unless the Stewards are satisfied that the provisions of Appendix AA apply, their horse shall, on an objection under Regulation 140(iv), be disqualified.
- Appendix AA has been reheaded ‘Taking the correct course’ and reads:
- If a Rider fails to pull up in the circumstances detailed in Regulation 122(iii) or disregards the requirements of Regulation 122(iv), the horse shall be disqualified unless the Stewards are satisfied that in all such cases all Riders remaining in the race have taken the same course and, in the opinion of the Stewards, no Rider has obtained an unfair advantage as a result.
- Should the provisions of this Appendix be enacted the horse(s) shall not be disqualified upon any objection under Regulation 140(iv), and, for the avoidance of doubt, the provisions of Regulation 124(i)(b) shall not apply.
If you are buying a horse yourself to race in point-to-points, you will need to check that the horse you are interested in is eligible to run, by reading through the eligibility criteria. It would also be helpful to familiarise yourself with the point-to-point rules and regulations.
Colours
Point-to-point owners do not need to officially register their colours unless the horse will be running on a licenced racecourse, e.g. in a Hunter Chase.
Change of Ownership and Keeper/Trainer Forms.
If you have recently purchased, or are planning to buy, a horse with a current Hunter Certificate, you need to make sure that a change of ownership form has been completed and sent to the Equine Services Department at Weatherbys within 30 days. If an owner changes keeper/trainer, you must also complete a form.
If you are looking for a jockey, you can find here a rider directory, together with a full list of riders eligible to claim the 5lb allowance in Open races.
If you are an owner looking for a keeper, take a look at our Trainer Directory.
Before your horse can race, it must have a registered Hunter Certificate, which should be completed and returned to Weatherbys before the Hunter Certificate deadline for the meeting at which you wish to run – this is usually 12.00 midday on the Thursday a week prior to the meeting. A Hunter Certificate must be re-registered for your horse each season. However, Hunter Certificates for Members Races do not always have to be registered – check Regulations 32 and 33 for further detail.
The form is fairly self-explanatory but has had a few changes this year, recognising that the Keeper/Trainer now has responsibilities, and the form now allows you to state who will be responsible for entries etc. Please note that the form can be completed electronically, but you must download the file first, then save your changes before submission. The Form requires signatures from the main Owner, the Keeper and from an official of a Hunt, for it to be correctly registered. Each are on different pages to allow completion concurrently.
Joining the PPORA
Joining the PPORA. The PPORA is the membership body that represents point-to-point owners and riders in Point-to-Pointing. To find out more about joining and the benefits of membership, you can visit www.ppora.co.uk, call them on 07513 101659, or email membership@ppora.co.uk
For any queries relating to Hunter Certificates, contact the Weatherbys Equine Services Department on 01933 304808 or at huntercerts@weatherbys.co.uk
Individual owners or keepers may both register under the PPA's Horse Sponsorship Scheme (HSS), which allows the horses in their respective ownership or care to receive sponsorship from a business in return for advertising. Once registered, logos can be placed on the paddock sheet, across the chest and neck of the owner’s colours and on the horse attendant's clothing. Note that only Single Horse Owner sponsorship (HSS1) is highlighted in the racecard
Single-Horse Sponsorship – sponsorship amounts of a minimum of £150 per horse and maximum of £950 should be in place, being paid directly to the owner. Registration can be made at the time of lodging a Hunter Certificate or afterwards, by completing the HSS1 form. A fee of £60 is payable for each horse at the time of registration.
Multi-Horse Sponsorship – registration can be made by either an owner or keeper completing the HSS2 form. A fee is payable at the time of registration, dependent on the number of horses in the yard (1 to 5 horses: £100; 6 to 10 horses: £250; 11+ horses: £500). It is the owner or keeper’s responsibility to ensure that the payments are correct for the number of horses registered during the season. Payment can, on agreement by the PPA, be made by instalment. Keepers should bear in mind, when registering a Multi-Horse Sponsorship, that an owner with a horse(s) at their yard can, at any time, withdraw their horse(s) from the sponsorship and that no refund of the initial registration fee will be made.
Where a horse is dual sponsored as part of a Single- and Multi-Horse sponsorship, no single sponsorship site can carry more than one sponsor’s logo.
In order to carry Sponsorship in Hunter Chases, a separate registration is required under the Rules of Racing.
A full list of scheduled point-to-point races and their conditions are available in The Planner which is available to purchase at the start of the season by visiting Shop page of the website here. It also includes useful information for owners including the National Championships and an abridged version of the regulations. This is the only place to find detailed race conditions and is important as the race conditions allow you to place your horse in races based on its level of ability to give it the best chance of winning. During the season, any updates to the Planner are available exclusively in the Digital Planner, which can also be ordered from the Shop.
When your horse's Hunter Certificate has been registered, you will receive a confirmation letter which – if it is your first horse –will contain details on how to log onto the online entries system (this is only available to either the Keeper or the Owner, as selected on the Hunter Certificate form). You can enter all races either through this system, or – for a minority of fixtures – by contacting the entries secretary for each fixture, as stated in the Planner.
Payment for entries can only be made by Credit or Debit Card. When entering through the online entries system, once you are happy with the payment details, you will be redirected to a secure payment gateway where the transaction can be completed. You should not close your browser window until the transaction has completed and you have been redirected to the pointtopointentries.co.uk website, otherwise the entry will not be registered.
For every race in which a horse is entered, an administration fee of £4.00 (plus VAT – total £4.80) will be deducted. If a meeting is abandoned, unless otherwise stated in the race meeting conditions in the Planner, the original entry fees will be refunded to the owner, minus this administration fee. If a horse is found to be not qualified, it will be removed from the relevant race, but the entry fee will be retained by the PPRC to cover the relevant administration costs.
Whilst the majority of entries are made online, it is possible to enter over the telephone, where a member of the team will take your entry and card payment details and process the transaction on your behalf, for a small extra fee.
In the event of a meeting being rescheduled, where the new date is more than sixteen days after the original fixture, all entries made before the original closing date shall be voided, original entry monies refunded to the owner and entries reopened.
Every point-to-point fixture is unique, so you won't have the same experience at any two meetings.
If you are travelling your horse yourself or have the ‘authority to act’ on someone else’s behalf, don't forget the horse’s passport and to check the vaccinations are all in order well before running. The vaccination regulation for 2023-2024 is again that horses must have been vaccinated within the past six months. Please check Regulations 35-36.
If travelling separately, once you arrive at the course you may wish to find your keeper and horse and make sure everything is OK, walk the course to check the going and confirm that your rider has arrived, is happy and has walked the course themselves.
Rider. It is better to confirm who is going to ride your horse before race day. A Riders directory will be available from the start of the season. However, willing volunteers can normally be found on the day if necessary.
Declarations. To run an entered horse, a declaration form (see below) should be completed before arrival on the course, and then handed in at least 60 minutes before the race. To complete the declaration form, you need to know the name of the race, name of the horse, name of the rider, any applicable Club membership details, and additional items the horse is carrying such as tongue ties, blinkers, cheekpieces etc. You also need to make sure you declare the correct weight and colours, and confirm any allowances or penalties that the horse should be carrying. The racecard will list the penalties/allowances for the horse, but it is your responsibility to check these are correct. The racecard does not state any allowances or penalties the rider may have.
After that, you need to get ready for your race. Whoever is in charge of saddling the horse will need to ensure that the horse is carrying the correct weight. Horses are due in the paddock at least 15 minutes before the race, so make sure you are there to watch your horse parade and meet your keeper and rider to talk tactics. Then it's time to watch the race – good luck!
Following (or even before) a race, your horse may be selected for sampling by the BHA for prohibited substances. The Veterinary Officer and Equine and Welfare Integrity Officer will make themselves known to you and they will take you or your keeper through the procedure for taking a blood sample from the horse.