PONY racing comes under starter’s orders tomorrow at Bedale point to point at Hornby Castle tomorrow. For the first time at this meeting, three Point-to-Point Pony Races for 13.2 and 14.2 and under will be held over a distance of 4 and 6f before the first steeplechase at 1.30pm.

This is for any child aged nine to 15 years that has hunted this season at least four times with a local pack or who has attended four PC rallies.

With 27 entries from as far apart as the Duke of Buccleugh to the York and Ainsty South, the first race will get under way at 12.30.

Between January and June, two races take place before or after the last race on the card at 80 point to points all over the country.

And as well as the Bedale, the Middleton held its first pony race last week and the Pendle Forest will do so at their meeting in May.

This is all a huge move for the county. Until now, young riders had to wait until they were 16 before they could ride in public.

Not anymore – now they can start as young as nine and gain invaluable race-riding experience as children giving them a head start in their careers whether they want to ride on the Flat or over jumps.

“It will make a huge difference to how quickly a young rider can progress,” says former Flat jockey, George Duffield, who, with retired trainer, Jack Berry, will be taking all the riders for a course walk before the first race.

“They’ll be sure to have loads of fun... I wish they’d had them in my day.”

For decades, Irish jockeys would arrive in their late teens having had hundreds of rides in pony races at home.

This has put them at a huge advantage, an anomaly not lost on Rebecca Morgan, who was a member of a racing authority working party that came up with the idea to stage pony races on racecourses.

“It seems to be working,” reflects Morgan, who is CEO of the Pony Racing Authority (PRA), the sport’s governing body which, as well as point to point Pony Races, also oversees Pony Club Race Days and the Racecourse Series, where races are held on official tracks in the county.

“Promising young riders have recently come up through the pony racing ranks, not least the up-andcoming jockeys Felix de Giles, Hadden Frost and Rhys Flint.”

Pony Racing instruction at Doncaster’s Northern Racing College is proving popular and students can attend a course with or without a pony. They learn to saddle up with racing tack and then an instructor takes them stepby- step through what happens on the big day.

“It’s everything from when to get changed, to how to weigh out and what to do in the paddock, to cantering down to the start and lining up at the tapes,” says Malc Bygrave, the chief instructor.

Once mounted they warmup in the indoor riding school and canter away on a circular all-weather 6f gallop. Watched through binoculars by their instructor, each rider has a radio ear-piece so faults can be corrected in an instant.

“They are taught how to ride at speed and how to judge pace,” he explains.

So with so many youngsters hunting with the Bedale there should be no shortage of local runners. Ruby Beardsall, 13, who had her first ride in a race at Beverley last autumn for owner-trainer Pam Ashworth, will be among them and has been jogging around her village to get fit.

“I can’t wait for Saturday... all my friends are talking about it,” she says.

Former GB event team member Helen Bell, from South Otterington, is sponsoring a race and both her children will be riding. She concurs: “They’ve both done the course at Doncaster so are in a state of high excitement.”