The 2026 renewal of the Pytchley with Woodland Easter Saturday meeting produced yet another treble for Champion Jockey Gina Andrews, watched by an enormous crowd on the hill at Dingley.
Charles Millington and Charlie Reynolds deserve huge praise for producing excellent good to soft ground through sheer hard work in the week leading up to the Easter weekend.
The meeting attracted a good number of runners across the card on a weekend with a lot of fixture congestion and this will have been largely down to the going. With numbers of registered horses decreasing each season it feels right that these efforts are rewarded,
The six-race card was bookended with two particularly strong performances.
The first was produced by Cash or Card and Dale Peters in the King West Hunt Members race, a runaway victory which would surely have been the fastest time of the day had the combination not been able to dial it down completely in the run-in and still win by 20 lengths from Bothwell Bridge (Ellie Callwood) and Champagne Glory (Charlie Case). Dale said “his jumping is a massive asset. He seemed back to the horse I hope we had couple of seasons ago.” Cash or Card made his debut in point-to-points at Sheriff Hutton in 2024 and has never finished outside the first three in his 11 runs to date.
The last race of the day was the two-and-a-half-mile Jockey Club Maiden for mares and fillies which saw a stand-out performance from four-year-old Crystal Ocean filly Rebel Aura, piloted by Gina Andrews for Eamonn O’Donovan. “I was delighted with Rebel Aura. Shew is a very straightforward mare and she was very professional on the day,” O’Donovan said. She jumped great and and showed great turn of foot when she [Gina] asked. Hopefully the plan is to go to the Aintree point to point bumper with her in May.”
With the amount of fixture congestion at this time of year it is perhaps inevitable that when two very good horses declare for a mixed open, some of the other entries choose to go elsewhere. So it was that we started the MacIntyre Hudson Mixed Open race with only three runners, two of which were short priced. Aramax is a horse which little introduction, with 8 wins from 14 starts and only once as low as third. His two most recent wins were in the hands of Gina Andrews, so when Gina made it clear she was riding one she trains, she clearly thought it was even better. Cliff Myers’ Cheytac is a little less experienced but has a similar win ratio with 5 from 8 and definitely had the edge on this occasion. Nor was this a tactical ride. Gina led from the back straight of the first lap and never looked like giving it up. A seven-year-old to watch. Shadows In The Sky completed the finishers. The distances were 20 lengths and 10 lengths.
Five runners came to post for the Rathbones PPORA Club Members Conditions race, our second of the day. The Signy and Marriage families’ Call Me Early added a third win of this season, his sixth from nine starts overall, after a well-timed move approaching the last. The six-year-old gelding by Lucky Speed beat a spirited challenge from Mylesfromwicklow (Charlie Case), trained locally by Stuart Morris, and Kelly Morgan-trained Potters Party (Ellie Callwood).
Louise and William Bevin’s Il Padrino was a popular winning trainer after the Greedy Gordons Restricted Race, representing the old-school in a world of semi-professionalism. William was wearing several hats at Dingley, including that of Veterinary Surgeon on a day when a BHA inspection was taking place. Ellie Holder rode their 9-year-old to his second win in his last two outings, his last win in 18 runs before that was in May 2022. Challenging in the run-in was Trojan de Berlais for Andrew Pennock, who led with two to jump but didn’t quite have enough left to keep the winner at bay. Pillar To Post (Tom Chatfeild-Roberts) completed the podium for the Kelly Morgan stable and The Old Meltonians.
The fifth race of the day was the Berry Accountants Maiden Race, an open maiden over three miles which produced a different local winner. Seven runners contested this one with Kranky Kelly, ridden by Cian Murphy for Nick Wright, doing most of the running. Corra Bheinn (Ellie Holder) and Right Lets Go (Charlie Case) were always in attendance but it was the latter, trained by Stuart Morris, who timed his move to perfection to hit the front in the run-in and pip the long time leader by less than a length.
This victory goes one better than the second placed finish at the Guilsborough meeting for this seven-year-old returning after a lay-off.
The Midlands Area now prepares for the last Garthorpe meeting of the season, the Quorn fixture on 25th April, before returning to Dingley for the Fernie and Fitzwilliam meetings in May. The Quorn, like this meeting, have raised their prize money, as well as making some wholesale changes to all the entertainment on offer on the day. More details to follow in my preview in due course.