Pony-racing chief

Clarissa Daly on spotting future champions and making racing more accessible

- Kate Johnson

There are three levels of pony racing; Pony Club, point-to-point – which takes place at 70 fixtures from January to June – and the Racecourse Series, which is 25 or so fixtures from April to October.

This year is obviously different, but we are still hoping to run at least 20 Racecourse Series fixtures from July to November. There are between two and three pony races run before or after the main programme, for children aged from nine to 16.

They need to qualify each year with their pony so we, or a Pony Club instructor, need to have seen them race. They’re all Flat races, from six furlongs to 1m3f and divided by pony height – 128cm, 138cm, and 148cm and under.

Pony racing is a great grounding to be a jockey and trainers like Andrew Balding and Richard Hughes will stay on or come early to a race day to see who’s coming through.