THE standing of point-to-point racing has never been higher.

With two of the last three Cheltenham Gold Cup winners - See More Business and Cool Dawn - having learnt their trade between the flags, the reputation of the sport has flourished.

The sports has proved itself as not only as a breeding ground for future champions, but also through its popularity with the amount of meetings which have drawn the public in droves to courses set in some of our most picturesque countryside.

The sport is blessed as well with two annuals that together give the point-to-point follower a wonderful and well-rounded insight into this most British of rural pursuits.

If it is statistics and a run-down on last season's form you want, Hunter Chasers & Point-to-pointers 2001 is a piece of perfection.

If it is a pictorial record of the campaign 2000, the Big Green Annual is, once again, a perfect illustration of what took place.

Both books have a south coast connection.

Bournemouth-based photographer John Beasley has travelled hundreds of miles covering point-to-point meetings - and his six months of toil have resulted in a top quality product.

The 160 pages are packed with colour pictures depicting the triumphs and dramas, the courses and the personalities which all combine to make point-to-point racing the exciting spectacle that it is. The original Big Green Annual was a winner, but this latest edition is even better.

And if you are not a point-to-point enthusiast, this book may well convert you!

The statistics contained in Mackenzie and Selby's Hunter Chasers & Point-to-pointers, now in its 42nd year, are truly remarkable.

Terry Selby, who lives near Wimborne, and Iain Mackenzie not only includes all the detailed results of last season, but there is a commentary on every horse (over 4,000 of them) that set foot on a course in 2000.

But this highly-acclaimed book contains so much more.

There are sections on riders, sires, courses etc, plus Hugh Condry's review of the year.

In short, if the authors have not included it in their 1,248-page volume, it wasn't worth knowing any way!

Sadly, the award for last season's champion horse is a posthumous one as it goes to Castle Mane who was found with a broken neck in his field on the final day of the campaign.

The Big Green Annual by John Beasley is published by and is available from Paleface Publishing, 30 Thistlebarrow Road, Bournemouth BH7 7AL or by phoning 01202 309489. Price: £13.95 plus £2 p&p.

Hunter Chasers & Point-to-pointers 2001 by Mackenzie and Selby is published by Chase Publications, Grove Road, Wimborne (01202 888200). Price: £37.