BEING a successful point-to-point trainer can have its drawbacks.

Until recently, the season started in January and finished in June so there was generally a gap of several months before horses started to return after their summer breaks, while the retention of stable staff was another problem.

After much discussion in the Hanley Swan home of Rachel and Andy Hobbs, the decision was taken to launch Team Hobbs, which will allow the yard to have runners under rules and in point-to-points.

It was decided Andy should continue with the stable’s point-to-pointers, despite the fact he had already trained almost 50 winners under rules.

After those successes, he took a sideways step and started to train a string of point-to-pointers for local businessman Clive Hitchings.

That reaped immediate success with Hitchings becoming the leading owner in their first season together.

The yard has since gone from strength-to-strength with Andy becoming the leading point-to-point trainer in the West Midlands in 2007 and runner-up in 2006 and 2008.

Rachel has now taken out a licence to train horses under rules, which led to a succession of courses, including an NVQ3 in race horse management and three modules at Newmarket, which were all passed with flying colours.

The couple first met at Worcester races about six years ago before eventually tying the knot at their Tyre Hill stables in July 2007.

The creation of Team Hobbs will see the name of Rachel M Hobbs appear among the training ranks for the first time but this is in contrast to other couples who have taken the same step.

Eastnor’s Matt Sheppard has pursued a successful National Hunt career, while his wife Nicky took control of the point-to-pointers.

One of Andy’s previous owners, Bob Launchbury, who runs the Tewkesbury firm Patrico which specialises in industrial containers, has provided sponsorship for Team Hobbs.

These two ventures have to be run as separate entities and this has required making the necessary security adjustments to the bottom yard at Tyre Hill.

The licence has already been granted but it required one final visit from the racing authorities before it was activated and this was granted in mid-September.

The stable’s first runners should be seen out on October 22 and these will include Flowonlovelyriver, a seven-year-old son of Beneficial who won two bumpers at Navan and Limerick in 2006, and Tewkesbury, who used to carry the colours of Nick Shutts.

They will be joined by two progressive pointers in the shape of Coppingers Court and Himself Dreams On.

The new set-up provides the best of both worlds. If the couple’s point-to-pointers show signs of ability, they can progress to racing under rules, while horses that are poorly handicapped or have lost their way under this code will probably find their future between the flags.

Given the couple’s past record, it should not be long before Rachel finds her way to the winners’ enclosure.