Report from Torrington Farmers Point to Point meeting
held at Chapelton Barton Umberleigh on Saturday 17th
June 2006.
As usual we arrived in plenty of time for this meeting
in beautiful weather and the course having had plenty of attention would race
firm but after the aggravation it was quite safe and would be fast. The volunteers for this hunt had done a
marvellous job in preparing this meeting and would be rewarded by the
attendance of a massive crowd. The
attention to parking detail provided more viewing space and much less
congestion around the bookmakers and was policed extremely courteously by a man
in a white coat. One gentleman who
rattled off a list of incapacity benefits he was drawing, how many hip replacements
he had endured and how he had a wife with arthritis was informed that he would
have been better off home by the fire!
He did not get into the area reserved for genuine disabled
supporters. Well done Les!
Off we go in the brilliant sunshine with a three
runner confined Hunts race. Ruth
supported best turned out POLLIGANA
(R Woolacott) to put a little in her bag but I think
Mrs Farrant is due a win on HARNAGE and the investment is duly made. HIGH ROCKER (Neil Harris) is the outsider of
the three but horses with that honour have been popular of late. Twice I believe at the Upcott meeting the
outsider of three came in first. Well I
was very relieved to see that HARNAGE appeared to be enjoying this going and
although POLLIGANA had a go at leading, before the end of the final lap there was
only one horse in it and my choice came home alone to take the honours in a
decent time of 6 minutes 17 seconds giving Caroline her first winner of the
season. Tonight she will be celebrating
her sister's 'Hen Night' so the first bottle of bubbly is assured. Well done and a little for the tin is a
lovely way to start the afternoon.
Nine go to post for the Restricted
race and Mrs J Perry's SANDERSTEAD will have Neil Harris up on this occasion
and is immediately set up as the favourite.
He has been close second a couple of times so maybe this one will be the
one where he picks up his restricted ticket.
Ruth is staying faithful to him and has drawn a little from the bag for
her investment. Unfortunately for her we
have received the sad news that her bookmaker friend from Newquay has passed
away this very morning so she will endeavour to find someone else who will be
generous enough to favour her with better than board odds. Mr John Bocock was
a very familiar face in the bookmaker line and his pleasant attitude towards
the game will surely be missed. I will
contact his widow on our return to Newquay and pass on our condolences. I have chosen best turned out PHANTHOM
WALKER (D Edwards) to top up my tin and the price I managed to get was very
favourable so a little more than usual has been deposited in a black satchel
and the hope that it will come out in quadruple, goes with it. One horse that was taking a lot of money was
FLITE OF ARABY (D Luff) so someone is expecting great
things from this one but his form does nothing for me so I will stick with my
original choice. Richard Woollacott on
Mr Underhill's POLLY COME
BACK is now being fancied a little but the remainder are
outsiders and should not threaten my choice.
Off they go! Neil kicked on from
the start and was first to show over the first fence followed by my choice,
then NICE APPROACH (K Downe), then the field with
SATCO PRINCE (Mrs K Christopher) bringing up the rear. SANDERSTEAD crossed the winning line first on
this circuit and continued at a good pace out into the country with two
circuits to go. This pace stretched them
out a little and at the second open ditch SANDERSTEAD still travelled well and
was attempting to make every post a winning one. PHANTHOM WALKER was travelling well back in
fourth place so no need to worry just yet.
REDBERRY HOLLY WITH Polly up was also looking as though a place was
going to be achieved. At the first one
down the back for the final time it was my choice who was asked to go on and
this saw SANDERSTEAD lose the leading position and PHANTHOM WALKER take it up. At the final open ditch a group of five led
by my choice were the only ones who were going to be concerned and they raced
out of sight to climb the hill for the final time. At two out we saw Ruth beginning to smile as
her choice was getting back up and then raced in front of my choice and the
rest is history. SANDERSTEAD went on to
win by five lengths with REDBERRY HOLLY making good progress and at the line was
a length to the good of PHANTOM WALKER.
Over the years I have learnt how to smile when Ruth wins by beating me,
but on the inside I am really hellish!
It takes a lot of doing but we are still happily married.
I am convinced I have the winner of the Men's open. If
you read my report from the Exmoor Hunt meeting at Bratton Down on the third of
June you will note that I thought ITZACLICHE would win there but at least he
did finish well behind to two good horses in SPRINGFORD and GONE TO LUNCH so he
can surely pull it off here. The
favourite is best turned out GENERAL BLACKTHORN with Neil Harris up and he
will probably go off odds-on as his form of three wins from his last three
races deserve that price but I will stick with ITZACLICHE with Pete Mason up. ERIC'S WAY (R Woollacott)
and BEADNELL BAY (J Snowden) will have to be beaten and also SPECIAL AGENDA (A Wintle) over from
Unfortunately the Ladies' open race was only a match
between two runners which turned out to be not a match as Polly Gundry on R Rowsell's KHATANI who has terrific form this season soon
got away from Sara West on BARTON SAINT and came home cosily to win by fifteen
lengths. That made it four wins on the
trot for the winner. Tin and Bag did not
take part as the odds were prohibitive!
The best turned out
SPINNING SILVER (M Woodward) won the Members' race recently at Bratton Down
and although he was impressive at that and won by a distance, he did take six
minutes twenty seconds to do it when six minutes was the norm for that
day. I didn't think he would be good
enough to win the Intermediate here. I was wrong, oh so wrong! It was SPINNING SILVER who ran an
excellent race to come home seventeen lengths to the good of SLAVE'S ADVENTURE
(R Hodges) in first place with Alice Mills on COFFEE MORNING three lengths back
in third. I asked JANDAL (D Luff) to do it for me but he didn't and wasn't in the first
three. I met Ruth on the way back to the
car for a drink of orange only to find out that she also had trusted JANDAL
with her dividend from the bag so we ate some strawberries and cream in the sun
together and talked about other things.
Finally came a thirteen runner maiden and it was now
clear that Richard Woollacott needed a win in this to enable him to carry off
the title of Area leading gentleman rider.
The Howard's WORLD FAMOUS did have Polly Gundry down as jockey but I see
Richard has the ride now and the visitor from Wales could pull it off but Polly
is now up on J Russell's CASTLE CAZZA and I am going for this one to give Polly
the final race of the season. Ruth fancies
Mr S Callow's CHASING KATIE (C Hughes) to top her bag
off for the season but it was all in vain.
I shouted and screamed but I suspect CASTLE CAZZA is a little deaf in
the ear nearest me because she did not increase her pace one tiny little bit
from my vocal efforts and allowed that WORLD FAMOUS to cruise home and win by
six lengths in front of her. CYRIUM (P
Millington) was four lengths back in third place.
Now
came two pony races. Seven will run in
the first group of 13.2hh ponies and riders aged 9 to 15 years old, over the
course laid out with the distance being approximately five and half furlongs. I recognised Miss Robyn Morris (13 years old)
on her grey pony HAYNEVALLY PEEK-A-BOO from when she ran at Holnicote and was
cruising towards the end of the race there making a very commendable third
position. I managed to invest at even
money and was very pleased with my choice.
The second favourite was SUMMERTIME BLAZE (Annabel Grove -14) and third
favourite was WINTON JEWELL (Victoria Griffiths - 14). The best
turned out STOCKHAM CHIFF CHAFF (Vikki Maddox-9) was also fancied and carried
some supporters' hopes. Off they go and
it was a very good start for PEEK-A-BOO and this time Robyn had no problem in
running a good race throughout and came home to win in fine style by four
lengths from fast finishing Annabel on SUMMERTIME BLAZE with Holly Hickman
closing two lengths back on RED HOT TODD.
Well done to all who made it possible as it is now becoming so much of
Point to Point racing.
In
group two for 14.2hh ponies and riders aged nine to 15 years old there were
only three runners and the odds on favourite came from a professional yard so
had a distinct advantage over the other two riders so it was no surprise to see
Bryony Frost (15) on CHUCKA come home to win by ten lengths from best turned out MY REEF with Jack Harris
onboard followed by JUMPIN JACK FLASH with Jake Bament
(10) onboard.
This
concluded the meeting but the prize giving then went ahead to the following
recipients and congratulations go out to them all and to The Torrington Farmers
Hunt for providing such a final to the season.
Brilliant! Let the party begin&
Devon and
Area leading lady
rider: Lucy Gardner
Area leading
gentleman rider: Richard Woollacott
Area leading
novice lady rider: Alice Mills
Area leading
novice gentleman rider: Ben Robarts
Area leading
horse: Jalons Star
Area leading
veteran rider: Colin Heard
Area leading
novice horse: Soldier of Rome
Area leading mare:
Tyre Hill Lilly
Area leading
veteran horse: Finewood and Sandy Duff
Area leading
owner: Ben Robarts
Area leading
owner/breeder: Mr Ben Messer-Bennetts (Sea Snipe)
Leading
owner/trainer/rider: Lucy Gardner
Rider gaining most
points at one meeting: Neil Harris (
Bookmakers award
for longest official starting price: Waddon Hill
(25-1 at Stevenstone) and No Way A Lady (25-1 at Axe
Vale)
This website will remain open for information
regarding Point to Point meetings as well as details from the North Cornwall
Hunt. Occasionally updating will
necessitate short times off line but these will be kept to a minimum. Thank you all for your feed back and very
kind emails. Ruth and I have had a
marvellous season, met up with a grand crowd of people and both bag and tin
looking healthy. The next one is on the
3rd December 2006 - BE THERE!!
Fred and Ruth