Lewis Hamilton-fronting car company sponsoring fundraisers for hunts
Car manufacturer INEOS Automotive is sponsoring point-to-point horse races to show its support for the “countryside community”. The catch? They are organised by and raise money for criminal hunting.
INEOS Automotive started its partnership with the Point-to-Point Authority in November 2021. The promotional material at the time said the car manufacturer was sponsoring the Mixed Open Series, and tied in with the launch of the INEOS Grenadier 4×4 vehicle. The relationship was meant to show INEOS Automotive’s backing of the “countryside community” through boosting the finances of the Point-to-Point Authority.
Point-to-point is an amateur horse racing event that sees riders compete on a course with jumps. They take place at courses across the UK and are organised locally, often in collaboration with hunts. In fact, participating horses must have confirmation from a hunt master that the horse has hunted at least four meets that season. And a jockey must have the approval of a hunt secretary to enter the race.
Protect the Wild previously wrote about the amount of funding point-to-point events bring in for hunts. This included a master of the Sinnington Hunt who makes between £7,000 and £10,000 for the hunt “on a good year”.
Whistleblower website Hunting Leaks provided further insight through some of the documents it published. The Heythrop Hunt, for example, recorded point-to-point income as £15,000 over 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile, the Cottesmore Hunt recorded £5,000 income from such events in 2019. And the Mendip Farmers Hunt said point-to-pointing had earned the hunt £10,225 in 2019/20. These figures amount to a significant minority of each pack’s annual income.
Funding organised crime
Moreover, the funding is indiscriminate. While anti-hunt activists say all hunts engage in criminal hunting, there are hunts with personnel that courts have actually convicted. These, too, gain funding through point-to-points. Two members of the previously mentioned Heythrop Hunt, for example, were convicted of hunting offences in 2012. And on that occasion, in a rare prosecution, the hunt itself was fined as well. Nonetheless, the Heythrop Hunt held its latest point-to-point on 23 January.
Other hunts with associated convictions for illegal hunting have also held point-to-point fixtures to fill their coffers. The South Dorset Hunt, for example, had one on 29 January. Just three months earlier a court found its huntsman Mark Pearson guilty of illegal hunting and fined him £6,800. The South Dorset Hunt has also been associated with a number of incredibly violent attacks on sabs and monitors in recent months.
The upcoming fixtures list on the Point-to-Point Authority’s website shows plenty of other criminal hunts yet to hold events this season, including hunts with recent convictions in their midst. The South Shropshire Hunt will hold its first meeting on 10 April. Its huntsman, Daniel Cherriman, was convicted of hunting offences in November 2022. Less than a week later, the Seavington Hunt will hold its fixture on 16 April. This is despite huntsman Ben Hood having plead guilty in October 2022 to illegally hunting a bagged fox.
Screenshot from footage published by ITV News.
This is an inexhaustive account, of course. There are hunts with huntsmen still to stand trial, such as Arun Squires of the Puckeridge Hunt, which has a fixture on 18 February, and John Holliday, who was charged during his time with the Belvoir Hunt, whose point-to-point is on 26 March. Nonetheless, taken all together, it paints a picture of point-to-point as small but essential fundraisers for the hunting industry.
And the whole thing is sponsored by INEOS Automotive.
“Looking into the matter”
Protect the Wild contacted INEOS Automotive, asking whether it had any comment on its sponsorship of an organisation raising funds for hunting, including those with huntsman convicted of illegal hunting. It said:
"INEOS Automotive signed an agreement with Point to Point racing in 2021 not only to provide support for grassroots equestrian sport, but to also build stronger relationships with a community the Grenadier has been designed for. We have seen no evidence that suggests our dedication to supporting those who work and live in the countryside has helped fund illegal fox hunting in any way, but we are looking into the matter.
"INEOS Group takes the protection of animals very seriously and is heavily involved in several conservation projects around the world. This includes social enterprises to protect and grow wild salmon stocks in Iceland, supporting wildlife and wilderness preservation projects in Southern Africa, and working with the Rhino Orphanage in South Africa, all with the aim to preserve the natural environment."
When Protect the Wild pressed further, raising specific hunts such as the Seavington Hunt, the company no longer responded.
Protect the Wild also attempted to contact representatives of Lewis Hamilton. As Protect the Wild previously highlighted, the car racing celebrity featured heavily in the promotional materials for the Grenadier. Hamilton is famously vegan, having spoken out against the animal farming and trophy hunting industries. Protect the Wild hadn’t received a response at the time of publishing.
Unethical investments
INEOS is hardly known for its ethical investments. It was, after all, determined to be one of the first to frack the UK before a moratorium on the practice was introduced in 2019. It's even teamed up with the shooting industry's luminary events database, GunsOnPegs.
Nonetheless, its support of openly criminal organisations is surely a step too far. And Hamilton’s support for the company must also come under scrutiny, given his belief in a better world for other animals.
