Hunter Chase Racing
Hunter chases take place at national hunt racecourses but are only open to thoroughbred horses that have hunter certificates. Hunter certificates are issued to horses that have hunted for at least four days in the season before racing starts in January. In addition the jockey must be an amateur who has obtained a certificate from the hunt secretary.
Unlike point-to-points, licenced trainers may have runners in Hunter Chases as well as amateur trainers. This often causes controversy when big name trainers run former Grade 1 horses in Hunter Chases as amateur trainers feel they are unable to compete. New rules due to take effect in 2009 will prevent horses which have finished in the first 3 of a Grade 1 or 2 chase in the previous season from taking part.
The two biggest Hunter Chases are the Aintree Fox Hunters' and Cheltenham Foxhunter. The Aintree Fox Hunters' is run as the feature race on the first day of the Grand National meeting over one circuit of the Grand National course. This gives amateur riders the chance to jump these famous fences before the professionals.
The Cheltenham Foxhunter is run after the Gold Cup over the same distance and is often referred to as the amateur Gold Cup.
Read more about this topic: National Hunt Racing
Famous quotes containing the words hunter, chase and/or racing:
“and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I’m engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“Martin Pawley: Do ya think maybe’s there’s a chance we still might find her?
Ethan Edwards: Injun’ll chase a thing ‘til he thinks he’s chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there’s such a thing as a critter that’ll just keep comin’ on. So we’ll find ‘em in the end. I promise ya. We’ll find ‘em, just as sure as the turnin’ of the earth.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)
“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)