Andoversford Steward Ilona Barnett joins Point-to-Point Authority Board

Ilona Barnett, raceday steward at Andoversford and a mainstay of the raceday team that delivers the annual Andoversford Races, has been elected Chair of the Point-to-Point Secretaries Association, and joins the Point-to-Point Authority board to represent the interests of the 170 or so fixtures across the UK.

With a solid background in farming, Pointing and racing, Ilona should be able to make her presence felt at the highest level of our amateur sport. This sits well with her full-time role as General Manager of Stratford Racecourse, one of several summer Jumps courses unable to open as yet because of the COVID crisis. 

Already the Area Secretary for the South Midlands and fixture secretary for the International fixture at Barbury, Ilona enjoys a unique position in understanding the sensitivities of staging racing fixtures on professional and amateur courses across the Midlands and East Anglia, where she grew up. Support for Pointing varies between areas of the country; it is no coincidence Andoversford can stage the most valuable race programme in the UK on the back of the significant stimulus nearby Cheltenham Racecourse provides to the sport at large. 

Barnett says: "I am delighted to have been appointed the new PPSA chair. I look forward to working with a great committee who are all very passionate and committed to making Point-to-Pointing a success. The next few years are going to be challenging for the whole country, not just racing and Point-to-Pointing, and I very much look forward to helping our sport thrive and flourish."

And so say all of us.