In my younger days there was very little sport on television.  Saturday afternoon programmes existed in the form of the BBCs ‘Grandstand’, or the ITV ‘World of Sport’, but sadly they didn’t show much that I actually wanted to watch, notably football.  Instead, there was a range of dull options such as Rugby League, wrestling, cricket and horse racing.  It was the latter that really puzzled me – why would you want to watch a bunch of horses galloping around a field, occasionally jumping over some tiny fences.  I simply didn’t get it, especially the betting with its indecipherable language accompanied by grown men making silly signs with their hands.  I suppose I did quite enjoy the Grand National, because the riders often fell off, but at the time it didn’t register with me that this was a bad thing because occasionally the horses were severely injured and had to be destroyed.

Recently, however, my interest was piqued by the discovery that Hasketon had a historic connection with the Sport of Kings, with National Hunt racing at Home Farm between 1889 and 1907, and later point-to-point races at Witchpit Farm.  These latter races ended in the late 1960s because of the proximity of the increasingly busy A12 road, and were moved to the racecourse at Higham, just down the A12 from Ipswich.

Sadly, like so many things, racing at Higham had become a victim of COVID, and all events were cancelled after March 2020.  But the 2021-2 season was given the go-ahead, with the first event being the Waveney Harriers Point-to-Point meet taking place on Sunday November 21^st 2021.     So I decided to take a look, not, if I’m honest, really knowing what to expect.

It turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable afternoon. Yes, there were some problems: a large number of horses had pulled out over concerns about the going and the inevitable worries about COVID. This meant that of the six races, two were uncontested and two others only had two runners. But the racing was exciting, and I’d not fully appreciated how majestic thoroughbred racehorses look when seen up close. It’s clearly a well-run, fairly informal event with a lot of enthusiastic followers from all walks of life. It was a cold afternoon, but many people were making a real occasion of it. Back-of-the-car picnics were much in evidence with some fine looking spreads on show, accompanied by appropriate drinks to keep out the cold. For those less organised there was a bar and some burger/pie/chips vans doing a brisk trade.

Knowing nothing about the form, I decided keep my money in my pocket on this occasion, but several bookies were present for the better informed punter.

You can read more about racing at Higham on their website: https://www.highamraces.co.uk/. Future events in this year’s calendar take place on January 16th and April 15th (Good Friday). Other point to point events are covered here: https://www.pointtopoint.co.uk/.

I may well return, but maybe only if there are some assurances regarding a full field of runners!