Point-to-Point column: Claire Hart reviews the 2025/26 season

The 2025/2026 season has now drawn to an end and what a season it has been.

It started well with huge support for the revival of the Welsh course at Lower Machen in Wales. 

At Christmas, the point-to-point and amateur community were shocked to learn of the retirement of record-breaking jockey Will Biddick, the most successful British point-to-point rider with 623 winners between the flags and 705 in total.

He secured himself eight National Championships and holds the record for the most winners ridden in a season, 68 in 2014/15. He has, as expected, transitioned to the training ranks seamlessly, having a brilliant season and training his first five-timer, at Badbury Rings in February.

By mid-January we had witnessed the season’s dual-Foxhunter winner Barton Snow take a Ladies' Open in fine style, plus the new GB Pointing Bonus Young Horse Maiden Scheme was well under way. This scheme has been pleasing in that it has gained lots of support, and graduate Kingofthefrontier became the first to trigger the £25,000 bonus when winning a maiden hurdle at Southwell on Tuesday for licensed trainer John Dawson.

Chris Barber made his mark by training 40 point-to-point winners and finished an honourable runner-up to three-time Champion Trainer Josh Newman. Barber teamed up regularly with Ed Doggrell, who, at the beginning of this season, had ridden only 12 winners, but a remarkable 36 victories left him third in the Men's Championship.

Barber is also responsible for the training of Larkhill specialist Grace A Vous Enki, who won his eleventh race at the course and added the Lady Dudley Cup at Chaddesley Corbett to his remarkable record, a race which Owners Clive and Joan Hitchins were delighted to win.

Sixteen-year-old Lucas Murphy has burst onto the scene and, in riding 18 winners, announced himself as one to watch next season. Remaining within the amateur ranks, it would be no surprise with the right backing to see him climb up the Men's Championship table next season. 

Gina Andrews gained herself a twelfth women’s title. An early season injury to former champion Izzie Hill meant the door was left wide open for Andrews to storm clear. Riding 44 winners, it was her third best season and during it, she rode her 100th National Hunt winner aboard the Paul Nicholls-trained Golden Son in a Hunter Chase at Taunton.

Katie Featherstone became our Women’s Novice Champion, she and Ellie Callwood who finished runner-up behind Andrews, are two female riders worthy of more opportunities. James King took his fifth Men's title and, in doing so, reached his seasonal best tally in riding 65 winners. The very successful introduction of the hands and heels series saw Dewi Haddock crowned overall champion and he, like Murphy, is a talent worth noting. 

Statistically the season has been pleasing on several fronts, with a huge increase in first-year riders from 36 last season to 66 in the 2025/2026 season proving the appetite is there. 

The increase in new riders is encouraging and could be down to many changes which were implemented such as Novice Rider Weight allowance increasing from five to ten winners, subsidised costs of RQC’s (rider licences), free jockey coaching and a pro-active plan to make pointing more accessible, welcoming and inclusive. 

With any sport, changes are inevitable and the continuation to work hard to improve and revolutionise point-to-pointing are evident. Racegoer numbers have increased, we have seen a greater standard of more capable and confident officials due to seminars arranged pre-season and that has resulted in fewer ‘red’ race day incidents. 

From a marketing point-of-view the website engagement and social media traffic has tripled, placing our sport in front of a large and diverse audience which will hopefully pay off with more racegoers, horses and owners.

Naturally not everything can be positive, and the current cost of living crisis and weather resulted in us having around 80 less horses, 5% less keepers and 2.5% down on owners compared to 2024/25.

The loss of the last two meetings of the season was a great shame, but sadly the regularly recurring dry conditions do little to help fixtures which are unable to water their courses. 

As the climate continues to change, the realities of racing horses in late May and June on ground that cannot be watered offers certain challenges to say the least!

We often hear ‘Back in the day’ and ‘In the old days we always used to run on quick ground’. I know this first-hand, I was one of those ‘back in the day’ participants, but we cannot dispute that times change and pressures have increased in recent years with the emphasis on horse combined with climate change which often sees little to no rainfall during the late weeks of the season.

I strongly believe that, whether consciously or sub-consciously, this encourages us to avoid the added risks that racing on quick ground brings. I also believe the cost of living has its part to play. In years gone by, when having a horse costed far less than what it does now, it was far more appealing to own a pointer.

Traditionally there were more horses trained at home by their farmer owner; fed on home-grown oats, home-grown hay and bedded on home-grown straw. This in turn has made the sport more professional, rightly so, but it does then discourage connections from running their horses on quickening, end of season ground, and saving them for the following season is often the preferred alternative. 

Point-to-pointing faces the same challenges as summer Jump racing, but many fixtures don’t have the luxury of watering facilities and maybe now is the time to consider ending the point-to-point season over the May bank holiday weekend. Even then, there is no guarantee the weather will be kinder, but surely the chance of rain and achieving safer going is greater.

I feel so sorry for the committees of the last two meetings at Bratton Down and Umberleigh; it must be soul destroying to put in all the hard work only to lose the meeting down to the lack of rainfall. Personally, I remember riding at Bratton Down on several occasions on beautiful ground, in fact in the rain on more than one occasion. I never rode at Umberleigh and on the only occasion I was supposed to, in 2012, ironically it was cancelled on the morning of due to heavy rainfall and storms making the track unraceable. Something which now we would think unlikely due to the change in weather patterns in the modern day.