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Didn’t get to update this thread ahead of this weekend’s action, but if you haven’t already seen it, no less a beast than Royal Auclair makes his pointing debut at Milborne St Andrew tomorrow.
Should have the beating of allcomers in the novices’ riders contest, even under what I believe is a first-time rider.
I was thinking of going there tomorrow anyway, but that’s a real bonus that secures the deal.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I just wanted to say thank you for this thread.. it’s really interesting.
Must admit whilst I never wish a horse ill, I wasn’t sorry Foreman didn’t complete the other day. I really dislike the way professional trainers are barging in with their "former top class chasers".
Had to afford myself a little smile looking at those hunter chase entries, by the way. You can tell it’s been a long time since Guesty had a runner in any such contest – hunt Dan Buoy with the Grove & Rufford (or whichever) all you want, sir, but those four runs he’s had under Rules since November disqualify him from all hunter chases and points for another season!
gc
I just wanted to say thank you for this thread.. it’s really interesting.
Must admit whilst I never wish a horse ill, I wasn’t sorry Foreman didn’t complete the other day. I really dislike the way professional trainers are barging in with their "former top class chasers".
I totally agree with you, Rose. For me there should be "elite" opens and hunter chases or even more veteran chases under rules for those former top horses so the small yards are not coming up against them. Yes I know its lovely to see these old horses still going round the point to point circuit but it is soul destroying if you have a half decent pointer who is never going to beat these horses.
Today the following all won – Turthen (total prize money to date £125k), Thisthatandtother (total prize money to date £383K) and Royal Auclair (total prize money to date £526K). And now they are running around for most likely a win prize of £125.
The bulk of Turthen’s prize money was gained in France,a rare failure for team Nicholls’ under rules.
Certainly done well for the Fox/Tizzard combo.One formerly useful rules horse (for the Pipes) still going strong at 16 is Carryonharry who has now won 18 points after victory at Godstone yesterday.
I totally agree with you, Rose. For me there should be "elite" opens and hunter chases or even more veteran chases under rules for those former top horses so the small yards are not coming up against them. Yes I know its lovely to see these old horses still going round the point to point circuit but it is soul destroying if you have a half decent pointer who is never going to beat these horses.
Today the following all won – Turthen (total prize money to date £125k), Thisthatandtother (total prize money to date £383K) and Royal Auclair (total prize money to date £526K). And now they are running around for most likely a win prize of £125.
There are almost too many points to address at once here! The emotional pull of the long-lived, frequently returning old chaser is undeniable and one of the loveliest things of our great sport, and the recent re-emergence of the veterans’ chase after all but dying out in the late 90s has been one of the highlights of the jumps scene for me over the last couple of years.
Per the hunter chase / pointing question, it’s too inexact a science to say that any previous classy or top-class animal diverted to those disciplines is simply going to carry all before it and put noses out of joint.
I was at Milborne St Andrew yesterday and saw the wins of all three horses listed above. Observations on each of them would be;
1) Turthen, as GD pointed out, has flourished outwith the Nicholls yard – his consistency in point-to-points and Foxhunters second are more of a reflection of how well his handler Charlie St V Fox (a one-horse trainer, remember) has done with him, rather than merely a legacy of his days at Ditcheat,
2) Thisthatandtother was sent off a weakish 9-4 favourite in a Mens Open that had cut up unusually badly for the course. Had Drybrook Bedouin – point-trained to the core and my idea of a lively Foxhunters outsider at generous odds – stood his ground, TTAT would have gone off much bigger in deference to Peter Shaw’s improving gelding (3/4l second to Roulez Cool at Larkhill previously). Despite winning five points in 2009, plus this one yesterday, TTAT is too quirky nowadays to be regarded as unimpeachable in any race, anyway.
3) A regal career to date notwithstanding, Royal Auclair wasn’t even sent off favourite for the novice riders’ contest he ran in, with Richard Barber’s improver Spuddler’s Dream getting the nod both on grounds of race-fitness (won at Chipley Park three weeks earlier) and jockey bookings (experienced James Ridley on him versus first-time rider Amy Derham on Royal Auclair). Were in-running betting permitted on points, his odds would have lengthened further in the preliminaries, as Miss Derham had a terrified-looking grip on him on the way to post before warming to the task in the race proper.
Above all else, it behoves me to mention that none of these three horses are actually trained by professionally licensed yards – Charlie St V Fox, Richard Barber and Chloe Roddick. Conversely, it’s plausible that Bob Buckler’s winner on the same card will pass without any similar decrying by simple expedient of it having been gained in a Maiden.
HTH,
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
We had the ex-Jim Old Durante contesting a maiden at Godstone yesterday and a stack of odds-on favourites (6 out of 7 races I believe) representing the Tindall/Nick Pearce team (the Tindall’s have King Edmund in training with Chris Gordon under rules).
Think that the Mares Maiden winner for Pearce – Florence Mary is worth keeping on side, very very easy winner of that event and was still on the bridle coming to two out. Also good to see Carryonharry winning again in the Ladies Open and a couple of promising jockeys in the final Charity Ride over the course – which also featured a good looking Tindall mare in Our Poppy Day
I’m amazed you got as many as 48 runners there in the end, Irish – when I was writing the
Talking Point
preview for the fixture earlier in the week, I was looking at all the double-engagements the better horses held and thought, "Good grief, this is going to cut up to nothing bar the Pearce horses". Looks like I was nearly right!
Along with Sandhurst and the North Midlands, the South East Area has some of the most thinly patronised Opens in the country, so apologies in advance if you get too many more meetings like that in the coming weeks, Irish! Charing a week on Sunday should be a very different proposition, though – usually buoyant entry numbers, great racing and a grand day out at just about the easiest coursr to get to. Oh, and you get Bob Bell thrown in for nowt extra, too.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Not sure I’ll be able to wrangle another Sunday off work for a while now Jeremy but here’s hoping I get to Charing if possible. Anywhere relatively South East next Sunday (off that day) by any chance?
They’re moved the two fences in the straight at Godstone and the winning post further up the straight and re-cambered the bend, all in all a very interesting day though surprised to see Garundi run as well as he did given how poorly he ran at Horseheath first time out which IMO is quite similar to Godstone – right-handed, undulating etc.
I too applaud Veterans Chases under rules and hope for more of the same.
However I dno’t like to moan about former top class rules horses running in HC/PtoPs and certainly wouldn’t want them stopped from running.
For every well known former star there are lots of moderate handicappers now plying their trade in these quieter waters. A rule which penalised the top class ones may also hurt these lesser lights.
Also if these stars still had all their ability they would probably still be running under rules. Because they are on the downgrade it is good to see them having the opportunity to compete at their new level and they can often be found giving good experiences to novice pilots as was the case this weekend.
Most importantly most racegoers love to see old heros that they have backed in the past and followed on TV.
Anywhere relatively South East next Sunday (off that day) by any chance?
No South East Area meetings until Charing itself, but if you fancy running the gauntlet with public transport again next Sunday your three nearest venues to race are Higham (Suffolk), Dunthrop (near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire) and Badbury Rings (near Wimborne, Dorset).
Have been to all three and found them all enjoyable, with Badbury probably my favourite of them. Set as it is on a natural plateau with the crowd bearing down on it from one of the shorter sides of the rectangular course, the action can get a little distant but you can see EVERYTHING.
There’ll be a massive crowd there this weeekend as it’s a Countryside Alliance-run meeting which gets the full weight of CA’s promotion behind it locally. You might just want to bring two pieces of cheese for your ears,
‘Allo ‘Allo
style, if the likely resultant pro-CA tannoy announcements lay contrary to your own ideologies!
Apropos of which, the prospective Tory candidate for the area grabbed the mike during Milborne St Andrew’s meeting yesterday and began, "I appreciate this isn’t the time and place for politics…", before making an appeal for support come May 6th, thereby making it the time and place for politics. They’re an incorrigible breed.
The entertainment at Badbury includes some camel racing. Do your own gags.
Finally, I’m forgetting my manners totally. It was great to catch up with TRF’s own Kingston Town at Milborne yesterday, for the first time indeed since Badbury Rings nearly a year ago. She took some splendid photos of Royal Auclair in particular which I hope will find a wider audience.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
IS, I’ll probably be at Higham on Sunday for the Granta Harriers meeting. Jeremy refers to it being in Suffolk. There is a Higham in Suffolk (next village to me) with an attractive church but no racecourse. The meeting will be at the Higham in Essex, near to Colchester
Cool stuff Adrian – might try and get to that one, will use the P2P site and google maps to see
I deferred to the
Annual
on that one, Adrian – they’ve called it "Higham, Suffolk, 8m NE of Colchester" for ye long. Have the boundaries moved since the course’s inception in 1958, or is it time to slap the compilers’ wrists?
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
Tricky one. My road map actually has them both down as Suffolk but Multimap calls the correct one (north of Colchester) as being Higham, Essex.
I was just making sure that everybody knew it wasn’t the Higham between Newmarket and Bury St.Edmunds which is a mistake that has been made before!
A real clash of former stars under rules versus prolific pointers at Ffos Las tomorrow:-
Crystal D’Ainay,Fundamentalist,Take the Stand,Lord of Illusion,Murphys Cardinal & Bannow Strand take on Lady Myfanwy,Chesnut Annie & Cannon Bridge amongst others.
By far the best hunter chase of the season so far.
…as well it promised to be, GD! Ffos Las’s stabling capacity of 120 meant the balloting-out issue was never going to impair this contest, and 3m around this galloping course was always likely to be regarded as a meaningful test for anything with Cheltenham aspirations.
Good to see such a strong Welsh turn-out as well, given what a strong pointing area South Wales in particular is; though whether the inclusion of a pointing course on the infield, as per the original Ffos Las plans, will ever come to fruition is another matter (I actually hope not, to be honest, as there are too many characterful old courses in the locality that I’d hate to see eschewed in preference for a Rules venue).
I’d love to see Chesnut Annie or Lady Myfanwy stick it to the more recognised names, as they’re both adorable (especially the former, who is the closest thing to perpetual motion in Welsh Ladies Opens), but it’ll be a huge ask. The likes of Crystal D’Ainay and Fundamentalist are likely to be trained to the second for this as they still haven’t acquired ANY of the wins or seconds required to secure Foxhunters qualification.
Definitely one to savour.
Admittedly a rather weaker contest, but how splendid was it to see Godfrey Maundrell, 61 years young, hose up on Lisadell King in Leicester’s hunter chase yesterday. This just three weeks after he’d run up the first treble of his 40-odd year riding career at one of Larkhill’s most fiercely contested meetings of the season.
Horses in form, man in form. Interestingly, most of Maundrell’s string in recent years has tended to comprise cast-offs from Jim Old’s yard, including the splendid Rhythm King, winner of 20 points and two Fakenham hunter chases. Looks like the old boy could teach the Old boy a thing or two…
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
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