The Pytchley with Woodland point-to-point at Guilsborough, Northampton, on 8th March was one of many meetings around the country over the weekend which held a minute’s silence before racing, in memory of amateur jockey Sam Lee. Sam was one of the real characters in point-to-point racing and was very popular in and out of the weighing room. He will be very sadly missed.
This year the fixture produced a remarkable fourth treble in consecutive weekends for Gina Andrews, and wins for Dale Peters, Dom Lewis and Henry Crow.
The meeting began with three well-supported pony races. The 138cms and under Open race was won by Kenny Moore on Brooks Spring, with Lucie Rose Dale on Ninfield Sweet Dreams in second and Molly Mansell and The Whicker Man in third. There were two divisions of the 148cms and under Open race. The first was won by Rinjani Bay (Harry Longsdon), with Dark Dandy (Lola Moore) in second and Hold Me Back (Rosie Twiston-Davies) in third. The second division was won by Two The Manor Born (Hugo Murray). Second was Sylvndell Spirit (Harley Blackwood) and third was Don’t Mynd Me and Emily Tomlinson.
The feature race of the afternoon was the Berrys Mixed Open Race which was a match race between two horses at opposite ends of the experience scale between the flags. Sarah Mclean’s Coachman (Charlie Case) is a ten-year-old french-bred ex-chaser who was making his debut run in points and got to within three lengths of the much more experienced Aramax, who gave Gina Andrews the first of her wins by a stance of four lengths. Gina said, “he was probably the most challenging of my rides this afternoon, purely because he doesn’t like to lead, but was forced to. He got the job done.” Charlie Case commented, “I thought I had a chance when I got the distance down to three lengths in the run in.”
Andrews’ treble came from the last three races of the day, an impressive feat in itself, but when you consider that this was her third consecutive treble, after High Easter, Ampton and Kingston Blount, it becomes truly remarkable.
The Horners’ Cartesien had been entered in the Mixed Open but trainer Maxine Filby declared the six-year-old French-bred grey in the Fox Land Rover PPORA Club Members Conditions which followed in order that Andrews could ride him. They settled in happily and travelled very comfortably on soft ground before making their move and finishing three lengths ahead of Bothwell Bridge (Ellie Callwood). In Our Dreams (Clara Brewitt) was seven length behind in third. Gina said, “Cartesien is a smart young horse, jumped superbly and travelled strong. I think he has a really nice future”.
The final victory in Gina’s treble was in the last, the Foxton Construction Conditions Race, where she rode the ten-year-old mare Arctic Oscar to their fifth win from ten starts, beating Ted’s Friend (Alexandra Ingram) and Dusart (Tom Chatfeild-Roberts) fiarly easily. “We put the cheek pieces on today to try to get her to concentrate a bit more, which helped, and we are now back to winning ways,” Gina said.
Just Four Fame, ridden by Dominic Lewis for David Dennis, won the first horse race of the day, the Billing Finance Maiden Race, which had seven runners. Right Lets Go was the first of what turned out to be a slew of second placed finishes for jockey Charlie Case, here riding for local trainer Stuart Morris, as they got the better of the Station Yard Racing gelding Corra Bheinn, which had Clara Brewitt in the plate. Lily My Girl (Ellie Holder), Keystone (Dale Peters) and Caractacus Potts were the other finishers.
The start of the year has been very good for trainer/rider Dale Peters, who has twice been top of the national table for trainers with small strings. He added another winner to that tally here in the Restricted, where he rode Cash Or Card for the This, That and The Others syndicate. Favourite Seek Him There, with Charlie Case in the plate, was the only other finisher.
Finally, the Intermediate race, kindly sponsored by Ace Gearboxes, was won by Jim Broomfield’s Boley Bob, ridden by Henry Crow and trained by Joe O’Shea. This was a much closer finish than the 1/4 odds suggested it might be, as Nick Wright’s Fame And Concrete (Cian Murphy) challenged to the end, producing one of the fastest times of the day.
Midlands point-to-point racing continues in a fortnight when the Belvoir host their meeting at Garthorpe. This was a very popular meeting last year, the bar staff not getting to go home until after 9pm, so we look forward to a good day’s sport there. Entries close on Monday 16th.