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Pharnoon was killed, was he? Oh horrors. I’ve not got the loose-leaf to hand, but I think the Weekender had him down as nothing more than pulled up at the 2nd. Ted and Joy will have been in absolute bits over that.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Quixalls Kin didn’t run but there were a few familiar names from the past including:-
Monte Cristo formerly trained by Lavinia Taylor but now with Deirdre Johnston and ridden by their son Charlie.
Madison De Vonnais a winner for Emma Lavelle.
River Trapper who beat Ungaro in a bumper for Hen at Newbury.
Klondike Charger a former winner for Dr Phil and fairly useful dual purpose horse Gabor were winners on the card in which we saw another member of the Greenall family in Toby,although it was his brother Oliver who had the winner of the last with the relatively unexposed Special Order .It’s good to see these old warriors still proving competitive in the latter stages of their racing careers.
Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed my first proper experience of p-t-p and look forward to getting to some more when the opportunity arises.Glad to hear it, GD. I’ll refrain from shouting "another convert!", but…. oh no I won’t. Another convert!
Another win for Oliver, I notice, and he continues to look a good thing for the men’s title. Most important of all, though – did you find the world’s finest hog roast stall there?
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Too warm for food,couple of cans of coke kept me going.
You can’t see the action on the far side of the track but not the end of the world.The run from the third fence (second time round) to the finishing line to try and get photos certainly tested my pathetic fitness levels.
Very picturesque nonetheless and easy to get to for non car drivers like myself.Although it didn’t state in the racecard who was commentating I’m pretty sure it was Andy Orkney who as I’ve stated before was a little unlucky to lose his place on the commentators roster.
Of course the whole amateur feel of pointing is part of its appeal.
From the varying riding abilities of the jockeys to the tented facilities for the participants.
Would imagine it wouldn’t be quite so much fun in bad weather though.Oh, they’re even more fun in bad weather, GD!
It’s possible to see the back straight at Easingwold if you march up the hill behind all the trade / food stalls – that’s where the commentator’s truck is, and where the race-readers for the meeting usually go as well. It means you’re having to look at a few little dots galloping up the chute at the end of the race to establishing finishing positions, lengths, etc., though, and I imagine it’s probably not the easiest course at which to do that sort of work (I’ve only ever been recreationally).
I know Andy Orkney was the commentator there last year and seems to pick up a few in the locality (those that Iain Mackenzie, Martin Harris, Neville Ender and Steve Powell don’t), so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him again.
At its worst Easingwold can embody "amateur" in both senses of the word – the last time I went back in 2003, they drove the aggrivator (sic) over parts of the track but not all of it, so depending on the racing line you would encounter either strips of good to firm or good to soft on the way round. Cue a three-runner Open and some other very paltry field sizes! I do enjoy it there all in all, though.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Pharnoon was killed, was he? Oh horrors. I’ve not got the loose-leaf to hand, but I think the Weekender had him down as nothing more than pulled up at the 2nd. Ted and Joy will have been in absolute bits over that.
gc
When we saw him run at Howe Hills back on the day we got soaked through to the skin and froze to death …. brings back such good memories
….. he pulled up at the first or 2nd fence, very strangeOf course the whole amateur feel of pointing is part of its appeal.
From the varying riding abilities of the jockeys to the tented facilities for the participants.
Would imagine it wouldn’t be quite so much fun in bad weather though.I actually prefer the beauty of pointing is the week before the course is sctually a field, at Howe Hills its all very "proffessional" with buildings, a proper bar and indoor school to shelter in, I don’t think its got much atmosphere though, not like when everyones outside. Although it was very nice for the afformentioned VW meeting!!!!! I suppose thats just me whose been brought up on it, and hanging about in tents at agricultural shows.
I wish I had made Easingwold, I think i might have been having palpitations as she was going so well but managed to lose her jockey at the 2nd last in 2nd place….gutted!!! so much for the opinion of the form experts at Weatherbys
:P:P:P Hello Noddy is trained by a relative of Denys Smith (possibly his daughter? or grandaughter?)The plan was to run again on Saturday at Wadeys, she got a bit of a cut so can’t be sure if she was entered. A little birdy (thanks!) informaed me yesterday Wadey was offering a freebie so hopefully it’ll get a big tunrout, I think its his own hunt so he can afford to do it.
Charlie Johnston also has another ride, called Tacolino
Katy – I think the Mordon course is John Wade’s land as well, isn’t it? It’s not the first time he’s offered free entry either, if memory serves.
Proof positive that if you want enough cash to spend on keeping two dozen horses in training, run a point-to-point with free entry, then equine rubber is where it’s at!
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
When we saw him run at Howe Hills back on the day we got soaked through to the skin and froze to death …. brings back such good memories
….. he pulled up at the first or 2nd fence, very strangeFrom what I have been able to gather subsequently, after Pharnoon refused at the second he got trapped in the open ditch and sustained fatal injuries. All this during a blizzard – a conspicuously horrible way to go and emphatically not one either the horse or his doting connections deserved.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
It’s a strange left-hand circuit within a circuit. They start on the inner loop, then two circuits of the outer loop, finishing up the inner loop with the winning post essentially in the middle of the track. The inner is barely 6f round, the outer about a mile.
If you stand in the inner circuit by the second fence (the last fence, eventually!) you can scamper back and forth to see them jump a fence along the bottom straight three times in a race. It’s a bit like Fontwell Park in that respect.
Ever been to Peperharrow PTP? What’s it like? gc, you must have been!
‘Fraid not, Crizzy – I’ve still only been to about 40 of the 130 or so active tracks (plus the now very dead Eaton Hall), but have ended up going to some of those many times over through work or inclination! Many of them are once-a-year tracks, so if fixtures clash, as they often do, that’s me scuppered for another year at least.
Peper Harrow fascinates me, though, almost for all the wrong reasons, as it’s a track that is hated among the pointing media like few others. The racing is far from the worst quality around, but the viewing is absolutely appalling, always has been, and if anything is getting worse.
For all that Cartmel has an infield full of distractions / guff, you can still see all of the fences and most of the hurdles from the stands. Likewise Hackwood Park, despite the centre of the course being full of inflatables, stalls and trees, still affords you a view of most of the fences if you’re clever or agile. NOBODY, however, can see more than one, maybe two, fences at Peper Harrow if they remain on ground level and standing still, and even the judges atop a double-deck bus and the commentator on a crane hoist can see a maximum of about half of the course.
It’s a situation caused in part by one side of the intersection of the course containing a forest, and the other side an increasingly conspicuous funfair, and also by a huge crowd on a small site largely impeding mobility around the course in search of better viewing.
That crowd, incidentally, is described in Mackenzie and Harris as being rammed full of “people-watchers for whom the racing is inconsequential (and they’re usually about right)”. That crowd was nearly reduced by one a few years ago when the number board came loose and fell on top of someone.
I can’t speak for the quality of the racing surface, or the course’s reputation among the pointing trainers and riders, but I do know that going can vary markedly around the circuit – one section of it actually goes through a natural swamp, marked out by small hurdles, which must count as a very unusual feature on a racecourse, if not unique.
All in all it’s always struck me as a place where anything geared towards the racing fan’s enjoyment (why no big screen?) is too much trouble, and the press folk don’t exactly queue up to do the race-reading for it. Astonishingly it’s been allowed to carry on in this vein for fifty-eight years now, and is presumably bankrolled by some mix of the local hunt, the local village bigwigs (Peper Harrow is actually a private, exclusive village whose size is closely monitored and all would-be incomers vetted) and these profligate socialites it attracts in bafflingly large numbers.
It’s almost worth going just to see if it really is as annoying a place as I’ve been led to believe, and had I not been working on the radio last Sunday, I would have gone to find out! Next year, maybe…
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Mind, it reads as if Venusian has been there and got on alright to an extent, so if I’ve put the boot in unduly on any of the above points, do please tell.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Of course the whole amateur feel of pointing is part of its appeal.
From the varying riding abilities of the jockeys to the tented facilities for the participants.
Would imagine it wouldn’t be quite so much fun in bad weather though.I actually prefer the beauty of pointing is the week before the course is sctually a field, at Howe Hills its all very “proffessional” with buildings, a proper bar and indoor school to shelter in, I don’t think its got much atmosphere though, not like when everyones outside. Although it was very nice for the afformentioned VW meeting!!!!! I suppose thats just me whose been brought up on it, and hanging about in tents at agricultural shows.
I wish I had made Easingwold, I think i might have been having palpitations as she was going so well but managed to lose her jockey at the 2nd last in 2nd place….gutted!!! so much for the opinion of the form experts at Weatherbys
:P:P:P Hello Noddy is trained by a relative of Denys Smith (possibly his daughter? or grandaughter?)The plan was to run again on Saturday at Wadeys, she got a bit of a cut so can’t be sure if she was entered. A little birdy (thanks!) informaed me yesterday Wadey was offering a freebie so hopefully it’ll get a big tunrout, I think its his own hunt so he can afford to do it.
Charlie Johnston also has another ride, called Tacolino
Ah,I thought I recognised the lass leading round the horse (Lucky for Laura) from some of your own piccies.
The race is also accessible to watch on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU1lQWV-gHg
It wasn’t quite Denis O’Regan on Artless,although some would argue it was worse.
I do know that going can vary markedly around the circuit – one section of it actually goes through a natural swamp, marked out by small hurdles, which must count as a very unusual feature on a racecourse, if not unique.
…and as if to prove the point, I’ve just read in the Weekender that the going was given as “good to firm, soft in places”.
Nick Pearce pulled out one of his horses close to the off following consultation between himself and the owner regarding the state of the going, and promptly got fined £150 for his troubles. That will have helped keep the judges in Bolly for a while longer.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Yes, I’ve been a few times, and I agree the viewing isn’t the best, but if you do what I described in my earlier post, you get to see 5 fences close up as well as the finish.
The "forest" is actually a Christmas tree plantation, so the trees aren’t that big, but they do obstruct the view..
Katy – I think the Mordon course is John Wade’s land as well, isn’t it? It’s not the first time he’s offered free entry either, if memory serves.
Proof positive that if you want enough cash to spend on keeping two dozen horses in training, run a point-to-point with free entry, then equine rubber is where it’s at!
gc
Yes, they are his gallops. Mordon is the nearby village, Howe Hills is name of the yard.
I dunno about Equine rubber, what all that about?!?!?! Think he made is millions by the dirty great quarry he has and all the trucks and skips!!
….. he pulled up at the first or 2nd fence, very strange
:P:P:P Hello Noddy is trained by a relative of Denys Smith (possibly his daughter? or grandaughter?)
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