Kimble winner Another Mystery (Lot 28) was sold to Newmarket trainer Lucy Wadham for £55,000 at last Friday's Tattersalls April Sale at Cheltenham where several successful Pointers were traded up to Rules racing.

Wadham was in the market again later in the day when Chris Barber-trained Kimble runner-up Dash For Cash was also knocked down to her for £45,000. 

The day's trading was marked by several Pointers appreciating significantly in value from the step up to the professional game. 

A four-year-old son of Fame And Glory out of a mare who was a half-sister to the highly-talnted Treacle, Scotch On Da Rocks was sold to Tessa Greatrex of Highflyer Bloodstock for 80,000gns. He was offered for sale by Warwickshire’s Tom and Gina Ellis, who trade as G & T Racing. Tom trained the horse to win at Mollington, and is headed for another Point-to-Point Trainers' title this season. The horse will be trained in Gloucestershire by Ben Pauling. 

Fellow Cotswold trainer Charlie Longsdon will train Dingley winner Lyrical Genius (Lot 15) sold from Chris Barber's to Charlie for £32,000, whilst  Yorkshire - trained Marton Abbey, left Cherry Coward's for Kim Bailey to a bid of £24,000.

Last Saturday’s Chaddesley Corbett winner Dondiam (Lot 35) made £50,000. Trained by Fran Nimmo, he was sold to Dan Astbury and Tim Talbot, while Nimmo’s Adjournment (Lot 12) made £45,000 to a bid from Oliver Greenall and Astbury. 

Welshman Bradley Gibbs, now living in Hertfordshire, enjoyed a memorable afternoon at Chaddesley Corbett on Saturday, when Premier Magic, unbeaten in 3 runs this season, snaffled the most prestigious of the "classic" Point-to-Point races in the Lady Dudley Cup. 

On the back of a Mixed Open victory on the same course at the Wheatland fixture in early December, followed by a 3/4l victory in the Dick Saunders Novices Hunters Chase at Leicester in February, Premier Magic and trainer-rider Gibbs were sent off a justifiable favourite, and picking off Igor for the Waley-Cohens at the turn out of the back straight, Gibbs had plenty in hand to assert as the race developed, winning by 12l. 

On ground improved by watering from the indefatigable Clerk of Course Jim Squires, the excellent entry for this and the other 7 races bore fruit with a good turnout. 

The Gibbs fortunes weren't yet finished for the day however, as he also picked up the Maiden Conditions race with Post No Bills, a 14l winner from Rose Iland.

Lucy Wadham secured a decent prize at Cheltenham's final fixture of the season for professional riders today, when Martello Sky won her fourth race of the season in the Listed Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Novices Hurdle on a card solely for mares and fillies.

Lucy has enjoyed her best season since 2015-16, topping £230,000 in winnings from her 23 winners. Rare among trainers, she shows a healthy £40.57 positive to a winning £1 stake from her 136 runners. Amidst a town where Flat racing rules, Newmarket-based Wadham is flying the flag successfully for the winter game. 

Gratifying also to see today a Pointing graduate to the higher echelons in The Player Queen, winner of the concluding mares Bumper. Trained by Mel Rowley, the winner was last seen winning her Maiden at Maisemore back in October, and retains a 100% record from her two runs. All good news for when she comes to the sale ring no doubt. The second horse home was Game On Foir Glory, trained by.. Lucy Wadham. There'll have been as many rooting for her horse, ridden by Brian Hughes, to narrow his deficit in the Jockeys' title race. 

Meantime, the nearest East Anglian Pointing fans are going to get to action in the area is Aldington in Kent tomorrow and Edgcote on Sunday. Courses that cannot water are finding it difficult to flush out runners unsurprisingly.

Hertfordshire trainer/rider Bradley Gibbs teamed up with Welsh owner David Brace for a double at a sunny Maisemore on the banks of the Severn on Tuesday, the first fixture in Worcestershire since early December. 
Gloucester Races proved once again how safe it is to run a Point-to-Point during these Covid-affected times. The sport made a welcome return with three meetings on Monday afternoon, but the large number of runners and warm conditions at this fixture presented a major challenge for all concerned.

A number of races were split at declaration which resulted in 10 races and a 12 noon start. There were doubles for owner David Brace and rider Bradley Gibbs, a winner from Yorkshire and three first time winners in Beau Morgan, Ellie Jefferson and Josh Barber, which proved the sport is back on the path to “normality”.

Temperatures reached 22 degrees by mid-afternoon which tested the skills of the Vets and their large team of helpers who constantly had to replenish the water supplies down at the finish and by the unsaddling enclosure to enable “cooling down procedures” to be carried out to maximum effect.
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Gibbs rode Gats and Co to take Division I of the 6-year-old Maiden. The winner had been pulled up on heavy ground at Hereford in February, but seemed more at home on this surface and was given a confident ride before catching the long-time leader Wilcox and Co at the 16th.

Later, Brace and Gibbs teamed up to take Division I of the Veterans Race with Robin des People. A prolific winner between the flags earlier in his career, the 11-year-old seemed to benefit from a return to Pointing and was one of three horses in with a chance on the final bend.
Ballykan and Model Cloud were vying for the lead at this point but Gibbs timed his run to perfection on Robin des People and the partnership swept clear of their rivals over the final two obstacles.

The East Anglian circuit gets underway tomorrow when the Essex & Suffolk stage a Good Friday fixture behind closed doors at Higham. See Higham Races for a live stream.