What a difference a day makes in the
sport of point-to-pointing! The day before racing had taken place
in glorious sunshine at Eyton on Severn, but Tuesday’s racing
took place on a grey and cold afternoon at the historic point to
point racecourse at Flagg Moor, which has been the home of the High
Peak Hunt since 1892.
This meeting is for the true traditionalists
of the sport as it epitomizes the old Corinthian ideals.
Tuesday’s was a terrific days racing, full of the usual
thrills and spills with some controversy thrown in for good
measure. There was also a good crowd of around 6,000 in
attendance.
Cholmondley trainer Donald McCain Junior had
trained a double at Eyton on Severn the day before with Cornish
Gale and Maringo, both of whom were ridden by Shrewsbury rider
Richard Burton. The same combination teamed up with Houghton Bay in
the Mens’ Open and the race itself turned into a cracking
dual from the last two fences between Will Kinsey on Gus Berry and
“Burtie” on Houghton Bay. Gus Berry jumped the last two
lengths up but Burton didn’t panic and drove Houghton Bay up
to win by a neck on the line, or so it seemed, but the judge Peter
Heaton saw it differently and gave the verdict to Gus Berry by a
short head, much to most peoples astonishment on the course
including Richard Burton, who couldn’t believe it. He said,
“ I thought I won the race, there was no doubt in my
mind.” This was the major talking point of the day. My press
room colleague Rory Alkin who makes a habit of being on the line at
the end of the race had no doubt that the runner up had prevailed
by a neck and I actually watched a video recording from an unhappy
racegoer and on his camcorder it clearly shows Houghton Bay in
front by a neck on the jam stick. Gus Berry is trained near
Barnsley by Alison Christmas. Clive Mulhall was due to ride the
horse but got stuck in motorway traffic, so it turned out to be a
good spare ride for Will Kinsey.
Houghton Bay’s connections, which are
made up of Donald McCain Jnr and the flamboyant entrepreneur Derek
Malam from Nantwich, were much happier following the easy 20-length
success of The Eeens under Ed Bourne in the Countryside Alliance
Novice Riders Race. Bourne who works for the McCains has now won
two from two on the winner and its only the second time that he has
completed the course.
Richard Burton did not leave the Derbyshire
course empty handed following a very impressive 25-length victory
in the Restricted aboard Rebel Army. The winner is trained at
Sheriffhales by Caroline Robinson who was delighted with her
charge. She said, “ I was so pleased with his performance
today as I did not know how he would cope with the conditions and
with the step up in trip. He has proved himself well and Richard
(Burton) said that he felt like a real racehorse today.” The
winner is co-owned by the trainers father Jeremy Beasley, Marion
Reiaghan and George Hibbert, the latter two live at Clitheroe.
On paper the best race on the card was the
Confined, because it featured two very progressive horses in the
North West, which were the unbeaten Darnil from the Sheila Crow
yard, the winner of his last three races, and Tinarana Lord from
the Nantwich yard of Gary Hanmer. Ten runners went to post and as
expected the betting, the finish was dominated by the first two in
the market. The latter was ridden with confidence by Hanmer who
pulled away on the run in to win by two lengths from Burton on
Darnil. The winner was in receipt of 3lbs from the runner up and it
will be interesting when these two next meet at level weights. The
horse is owned by the crazy gang syndicate, who are made up of the
trainers mother Gwyneth Hanmer from Nescliffe and Brenda and John
Shaw from Bridgenorth.
The Ladies’ Open had the crowd on their
feet. Master Jock under Sue Sharratt and Hannah Kinsey on Returned
Un Paid fought a ding dong battle over the last mile with no horse
or rider giving any quarter and there was none asked. Master Jock
regained the lead in the last two strides to win a thriller by a
head. The winner is trained at Wolverhampton by Paul Jones for
Willenhall owner Peter Burke, who bred the horse himself.
Rider Stuart Ross had the choice of either
Strong King or Top Weld in the Open Maiden and he chose the latter
and won the race by 10 lengths from Strong King. The winner is
trained at Llandyrnog, near Denbigh by Robbie Owen. The village was
famous quite a few years ago because it is where Edward Hollister
Owen used train quite a few winners from under rules, the best of
which was the late Lord Kenyon’s Rupertino.
The opening Members race, which starts at
Flagg village itself races over their famous limestone walls. It is
a fantastic spectacle, which was won this year by The Tallet who
was trained and ridden by 20-year-old Jenny Allen, who was having
her first ever ride in the race. She trains locally at Hartington,
which is where the owner Andrew Sebire lives. The mare was bought
privately by the owner from Donald McCain Jnr last April.