Next month’s publication of Point-to-Point & Hunter Chase Yearbook 2024/25 will include a wealth of information, including ratings for every horse that ran last season.
Each rating is assessed by race reader and commentator Martin Harris, a familiar figure at point-to-points around the country and with a wealth of knowledge on the sport and competitors within it.
Ratings invariably provoke debate, and Harris accepts that not everyone will agree with his assessments, which in the latest edition of Yearbook reveals an Irish stronghold for the top three places and clear evidence that he rated Cheltenham’s St James’s Place Festival Hunters’ Chase as the season’s top contest.
It resulted in a one-two-three for hunters trained in Ireland, with Sam Curling’s nine-year-old Wonderwall defeating the Emmet Mullins-trained runner-up Its On The Line by a neck, the pair finishing just over three lengths clear of Gordon Elliott’s Willitgoahead in third. Music Drive from Kelly Morgan’s stable and the Paul Nicholls-trained Shearer finished fourth and fifth, separated by a nose.
Harris gives Wonderwall a rating of 139, two more than last year’s top horse Its On The Line, with Willitgoahead rated 135.
Grace A Vous Enki (James King) who is the top-rated horse in Britain (Tim Holt)
The leading British horse on Harris’s list is the Nicky Sheppard-trained Grace A Vous Enki (133), whose season ended after a pair of open-race victories at Larkhill, on the second occasion giving a beating of seven lengths to the very smart Time Leader (131). Time Leader’s Joe O’Shea-trained stablemate, Gracchus De Balme, winner of Aintree’s Randox Foxhunters’ Chase and Stratford’s Pertemps Champion Hunters’ Chase is also rated on 131, the same mark as Jet Plane – who finished second beaten a length in the Aintree race – and Shearer. Music Drive, who after his fourth-place finish at the Festival returned to Cheltenham for the evening hunters’ chase meeting where he beat Gracchus De Balme (conceding 6lb), is among a cluster of horses on 129, while Barton Snow, who won three hunters’ chases for O’Shea’s stable, shares a mark of 127 with another talented group of horses.
Barton Snow, seen winning under James King at Cheltenham's evening meeting (Neale Blackburn)
Inchidaly Robin, who reeled in the Connolly’s RED MILLS leading horse title after recording eight straight victories in point-to-points, did not tackle a hunters’ chase. He has been given a rating of 111 after a series of easy wins in small-field races. He will improve that mark if tackling tougher competition when the 2015/26 season opens next month.
For a permanent annual record of horses, fixtures, race results, riders and plenty of other point-to-pointing elements – including championship tables, statistics and ratings for every horse that ran last season – ensure you order a copy of Yearbook through this website. The price is £55 and publication will take place during the week of October 27.
Meanwhile the Planner, which is also packed with information about the sport including details of every meeting and race in the coming season – enabling owners, trainers, riders and officials with the opportunity to plan ahead and set race targets – is also nearing completion.
The price is £58 for a ring-bound copy and £45 for a digital version. It too will be available via the national website – keep watching for publication date.