Why do we have these hunter chase ?

Its so the toffs can ride a proper racecourse.

Couldn't agree more Jmnast. Beeb a total waste of time this year. I suppose it's relatively cheap for the racecourse but time to give them a yellow card imo.

Race conditions of this one are stupid,limiting horses to no more than three chase wins. So you get two fairly decent veteran chasers who fit the criteria and rule out quite a few similar types.

I agree with SS here, the race conditions are partly to blame.

So much that's wrong with racing is the result of "tradition". A thorough modernisation is required, to make the sport fit for the 20th century (the 21st is too ambitious).

that'll be another 20 years then,

that's how long it's taken the racing aficionados to accept AW racing

I'll never accept aw racing as a netting medium.+1 from ss racing conditions daft. NH has a much bigger problem with no. of runners. Fixtures need a complete revamp to encourage the best horses to race against each other.

all the best NH horses have been roughed up, you'll have to do with what's left !

What an interesting race that was!

especially if you backed the 2nd

how many hunter chases have taken place this season ?? less than 25 i'd guess so with the enormous
number of races run here does the odd one really cause that much of a problem

My view is that hunter-chases (and the point-to-point racing they come out of) is the heritage and foundation of National Hunt racing (the clue is in the name).

This is exactly where the sport came from - it would feel churlish to me to turn one's back on it as it is an inconvenience to the current commercial product.

to be fair, they used to be the last race on the cards but nowadays they don't want people to leave early so they stick it in the middle of the card

I like hunter chases as a spectacle and if there's one on the card I'd maybe have an interest bet every now and then but that's about it really.

Isleham

I don’t know the exact figure but I would be sure it was over 25

They could/Should  run them as Last race on the Card - so that they are NOT part of the PLACEPOT.

If I remember correctly in the 70's there were 3 Hunter Chases within the 3 day Cheltenham Festival. Times have very definitely moved on since then. We don't have a group of relatively well known amateurs with strings of high class hunter chasers. Many point trainers are now using points to try and shift 4/5 year olds in a way the Irish have been doing for many years. Take away that potential and there isn't that much coming through. Sadly, we now have veterans chases and they have obviously impacted on older horses going down the hunter chase route. Plenty of hunter chases are just (much) poorer versions of veterans chases.

Shift the Foxhunters to the April meeting, keep a few other end of season races, but most of the others could easily be scrapped.

"but most of the others could easily be scrapped"

"easily" in what sense?  As not useful betting fodder?  Not easily scrapped as a route for amateurs to move from ptp to riding on real racecourses.

As races that would be better served as the highlight of a point card rather than the worst track race.

If a jockey shows promise in points they don't/won't need a grounding of several years riding poor horses in 4/5 runner hunter chases.