Irish Thoroughbred Marketing are set to once again continue their support of point-to-point mares with the point-to-point mares voucher for the 2020/21 season which gets underway at Ballingarry on Saturday.
Last season, Michelle Duggan, Patrick Turley, Garrett Power, Hugh Finegan, and Jay Leahy were the five handlers randomly selected from a list of 68 that had trained a mare to win a point-to-point, and each received a €1,000 voucher to be used against the purchase or a mare at the Irish store sales during the Summer.
The likes of Honeysuckle have advertised the quality of mares that are emerging from the point-to-point circuit at present, with Henry de Bromhead’s adding the Irish Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Mares Hurdle to her haul of four Grade 1 victories.
ITM CEO Charles O’Neill commented: “ITM are delighted to continue our sponsorship of the ITM P2P Mares Vouchers for the 2020/2021 season.
"In recent years, vast improvements have been made to the National Hunt mares’ programme in both Britain and Ireland.
"In 2019 alone, both prize money for mares-only contests and mares-only black type opportunities increased by 5%.
"You need only look at the success of mares such as Honeysuckle and Magic Of Light, who both graduated from Irish point-to-points, to see what can be achieved with mares.”
"In recent years, vast improvements have been made to the National Hunt mares’ programme in both Britain and Ireland.
"In 2019 alone, both prize money for mares-only contests and mares-only black type opportunities increased by 5%.
"You need only look at the success of mares such as Honeysuckle and Magic Of Light, who both graduated from Irish point-to-points, to see what can be achieved with mares.”
