Report
from Minehead Harriers and West
A reasonable crowd turned up earlier than usual for
the Pony races which were held on the Holnicote course on Saturday and we were
amongst them to see the youngsters really enjoy themselves. This enterprise for them must be supported
and although coverage for health and safety reasons among other things is
expensive it must surely be worth it to encourage the younger ones to continue
in this sport.
The 13.2hh Race sent seven runners to post with a
clear favourite in DHULILLAS HEAVENLY ROSE who would be piloted by Henry Hayes
(10 yrs old) but according to the bookies Ollie Cossy
(15) on BRENNEN would not be far away and wouldn't it be nice if his younger
sister Ebony on WILLIAM could be up there as well. Perfectly turned out was PATCHWORK with
Jessica Branton in the saddle who
collected the prize for 'Best Turned Out'.
A very smart young lady, Miss Robyn Morris was to ride HAYNEVALLEY
PEEK-A-BOO and I am sure she will do better than father as he got all excited
and left the car with the lights on but was advised of the situation before the
battery went really flat. DOUBLE TROUBLE
(Heidi Lewis) and TOFFEE (Ben Price) made up the field. None of these runners had been placed first
or second before so it was good to see every one in with a chance and no
obvious winner. Off they go and what a
pace they quickly set. I think the
commentator got the names mixed up a little but coming down the home straight
it was obvious it was going to be close.
First over the line was DHULLILLAS HEAVENLY ROSE to win by just a short
head from BRENNEN and HAYNEVALLEY PEEK-A-BOO came home at great speed to get
third place just three lengths away.
WILLIAM was fourth, then DOUBLE TROUBLE, PATCHWORK and TOFFEE. Well done
to them all.
Five to post for the 14.2hh Race and it was CHIDDOCK
FREEDOM who Hannah Hawkins (12) would be riding who picked up the prize for
'Best Turned Out', and was made the clear favourite to win, but MINTY (Giles
Hawking 14) was also fancied and SALT PETER (George Partridge), GYPSY (Philip
Prince) and SPRING SONG (Jessica North) made up the field. It was another very good race with no holds
barred and eventually it was MINTY who crossed the line to win by three lengths
from CHIDDOCK FREEDOM with GYPSY just a length back in third followed by SALT
PETER and SPRING SONG. I was at the
presentation of awards and what a happy bunch they all were and not short of
congratulations for one another which was very nice to see. Long may it
last. Oh! I almost forgot&possibly the
parents and grand parents had something to do with it so a big thank you to them
as well!
A lot of hard work has gone in to getting the course
in the condition it is and it will race good with good to firm in places and
nine will go to post for the first race, the Restricted
race. Colin Heard on FREEMANTLE DOCTOR
will go off favourite with JUSTTHETWOOFUS (R Green) and PHANTOM WALKER (D
Edwards) joint second favourites with the remainder much bigger prices and
apparently not fancied at all. The
starter calls them in and while I am at it I know that our starter has already
been stitched up this morning. He now has
a very modern pin stripe 'starters suit' as the old brown one had its sleeves
removed by a hungry horse at the Torrington meeting but he tends to leave this
suit at the home of his last bed and when it came time to get into it this
morning he had great difficulty in getting his hands out the other end of the
sleeves. Well and truly stitched
up! Off they go! Will Biddick took no time at all in getting
FORDHAM GLORY to the front followed by PHANTOM WALKER and this pair raced
prominently for the duration of the first two laps with ERIC'S WAY and
FREEMANTLE DOCTOR in third and fourth places. Four from home it was FREEMANTLE
DOCTOR who got just in front of FORDHAM GLORY but not by much and these two
raced together to the final open ditch with ERIC'S WAY back in third. These three were well clear of JUSTTHETWOOFUS
back in fourth place. Toward the
penultimate it was ERIC'S WAY who was getting up and challenging FREEMANTLE
DOCTOR. The final obstacle it was ERIC'S
WAY who got the better of things and came home to win by four lengths from
FREEMANTLE DOCTOR with FORDHAM GLORY now ten lengths back in third. The winner
was available at twelve to one in the arena so would have pleased the few that
must have had him but not the tin or bag unfortunately.
The Open maiden was split into two divisions with nine
in division one and ten in division two.
Alex Charles-Jones kicked off his double in division one by bringing
home the Froud's NIPPER STAR to win by two and half
lengths from Neil Harris on
Richard Woollacott made it a double for the day when
he brought the odds on favourite TEDDY BOY
in to win by three lengths but he had to get to work on him down the
home straight to stay ahead of Emma Tory on WINK & WHISPER who should be
getting a win again if the season is long enough. The Pyman's best turned out OPAL'LOU came in third
some fifteen lengths back. SAMMY SAMBA
(Ryan Bliss) was running a great race but took a guess at one going down the
back for the final time and came unstuck which put paid to his chances. The tin took advantage of this winner and put
in a little earner but not before time!
I was busy
chatting and nearly missed the off of the Novice Riders' club race and as I
reached the investing arena I was almost too late to make a bet but a
'considerate' bookie took my investment and I just chose the first one on the
board and knew very little about it. I
was very lucky this time and the Atkinson's best
turned out DEAR DEAL clocked up his third win this season and came home by
thirteen lengths and in doing so helped the tin out immensely. KEITHO (D Green) was second and RUSHING AGAIN
(D Burton) was two and half lengths back in third.
Seven go to post for the Intermediate race with a
clear favourite established in Neil Harris on OSOKENDA. MAGNEMITE (Will White) and OLYMPIC STORM (Rachel
Green) are destined to fight out for the places according to the investment
boards. It did not turn out to be quite
like that! Will Biddick took MILLDALUS
along in front from the off and was in that position as they went out into the
country with two complete circuits to run.
Over the open ditch for the second time it was still MILLDALUS taking
them along from OSOKENDA, MAGNEMITE and OLYMPIC STORM. To the first down the back straight it was
OSOKENDA taking them along now as MILLDALUS had had enough and was pulling
up. Onto the next it was still OSOKENDA
by about three lengths from OLYMPIC STORM followed by MAGNEMITE. To the final open ditch it was still OSOKENDA
but he made a mistake and although landed running it allowed OLYMPIC STORM to
get up a bit. Two fences left and a
great battle now and so it continued to the last and up the straight and onto
the line where OLYMPIC STORM had it by two lengths from OSOKENDA and fifteen
lengths back was MAGNEMITE. No benefit to me anyway as I wanted MAGNEMITE to
come into either of the first two places.
Finally there were six runners to post for the
Confined hunt's race. The favourite was
a previous good winner here, ZESTA FIESTA (D Edwards) but I fancied Lucy
Gardner to top off my tin with ROYMILLON as I saw this one finishing very fast
at the Stevenstone meeting. Others
fancied GIN 'N' FONIC (C Heard) but very few fancied SBS BY JOVE (Alex
Charles-Jones) best turned out CAUNDLE
CHASE (W White) and ROBERTS RETURN (A Cooksley). There was a delay to the start as ROBERTS
RETURN thought he had forgotten something so dumped his pilot and returned to
his box. Obviously found what he wanted,
picked up his pilot and returned to the start. Off we go! Alex soon sent SBS BY JOVE to the fore and
was obviously going to play a front running tactic on this one. At the open ditch CAUNDLE CHASE didn't handle
it too well and Will White was on the floor but SBS BY JOVE cracked on. Out into the country with two circuits to run
the remaining field was still led by SBS BY JOVE by two from ZESTA FIESTA, GIN
'N' FONIC and not going very well was ROYMILLON. ROBERTS RETURN was sure he had left something
in his box so returned there early to sort it out. The open ditch is out of bounds so two from
home, encouraged by the roar from the crowd the favourite ZESTA FIESTA made his
move but it was not decisive enough and although it might have looked like he
was going to get the better of SBS BY JOVE it did not happen and at the line it
was Alex Charles-Jones completing a double for the day and brought a very
determined SBS BY JOVE over the line to win by one and half lengths. GIN 'N' FONIC was four lengths back in
third. Nothing for the tin but on
checking up I will complete the day happily balanced. Must do better though!
Off we go now back to
BE THERE!
Fred and Ruth