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POINT-TO-POINT RACING Good Old Sporting Times of Days Gone by and Many Amusing Episodes of Pleasing Memory Recalled. Now that the Point-to-Point season is over one cannot help thinking of past days when a Iuiut to-Point meant so much to the hunting man. Those were good old days when the annual Point-to-I omt races simply amounted to a trial of pace and jumping powers between horses that had hunted together through a season. Many an amusing episode occurred which one recalls with pleasure. The most extraordinary, to the writers mind, was when two hard riding youngsters leading the field by a quarter of a mile fell at the last fence but one. They were both blown, their horses in a worse state than themselves, and they crashed. Botli struggled up and made for the nearest horse; the excitement of the field approaching them may have bud something to do with it, also the fact "that both horses were bays; anyway, they swapped horses and raced for home; unfortunately, thov were caught by the field who, by the way, had all come to grief and mounted again and were not placed. An interesting point would have arise:i had they -finished first and second. We have not the National Hunt rules by us and Point-to-Point rules are guided by these hut there is a rule which-says that if a horse falls and unseats his jockey that horse can be ridden in by another person and be declared a winner if he passes the .post first and is ridden by one qualified to ride in that race, the horse is caught in the same field, and the rider pulls the correct weight this is not the wording of the rule, but the gist of it. Now in this case the horse ridden by the. .heaviest rider is bound to win, whether he was first or second. For lightweight races in Point-to-Points are run at a certain weight. On another occasion we saw three horses come at the last fence in a line the only competitors left standing up all three fell, and the race developed into who could get up quickest. The first man up had got his curb rein under his horses off foreleg, whioa cramped his finish, and he. was beaten by a length. The third man had the greatest difficulty to get his horse up before the next race, as the poor brute was dead beat. The slowest races we have ever seen over a Point-to-Pohit course were in the south, where the last fence was a very solid post and rails. Everybody who rode knew of this, and no one would make the pace, as all were saving for the last and in this class of- race the most important fence, the consequence was there were somft rattling fine finishes. CROWD TRIED TO HELP HERO. One particular year, when the going was up to the horses hocks and the grief beyond the average, one hero leading by fields did not fall till the last fence; he held onto his reins and the bridle came off. He had plenty of time to catch his horse and put the bridle on again. Certainly iu the far, distance was another, riding furiously. lie did catch his horse, but found then that the .check piece of his bridle was broken. He flung the reins over the horsea neck and an enthusiastic onlooker legged him up, and he endeavored with the help of the crowd to ride in, but his sporting effort of finishing on a hridleless horse was pipped on the post by the furious rider, who had been knocked down and remounted at the outset of the contest, and incidentally a hot favorite. There is the story, which we will not vouch for, of the foggy day and the circular course that had to be traversed twice. One jockey whose conscience was swamped by his will to win made the pace furious, galloped away from his field, and at a point furthest away from the crowd nipped behind a haystack, where he patiently waited until he heard them pounding round the second time, and before they could see him through the fog he nipped back to the course, and finished in a common canter. The story goes that the swindle was discovered that night when the rider, having had a convivial evening celebrating his "win," gave the game away himself. We hope, were the story true, that he was properly "dealt with." Many troubles have arisen over getting the right weight; many men arrive on the course short of lead, hoping to borrow a pound off someone else. On one occasion the writers father carried a two-and-a-half-pound bit of iron hurriedly taken off a plough. He remarked afterwards that it was the most uncomfortable ride of his life, as he had It strapped under the saddle flap and just above his knee. We have seen a sportsman drive tandem to a Point-to-Point, ride the leader in a race, win, put to and drive home, well satisfied with a good afternoons wcrk. Certainly things have changed nowadays, but It is not for ns So criticize, even if we do feel that the modern Point-to-Point Is not the whole-hearted fun it used to be, both to ride in and to watch; we still have those good old sporting times to. look back on, when we were younger and the tux-collector knocked less frequently at the door.. G. Trevor in Bailys Magazine.
