A fascinating renewal of the St James's Place Foxhunter Chase at the Festival contains added interest for Yorkshire spectators, when Fiona Needham saddles Sine Nomine to run in the race for the first time, and Hertfordshire-trained Premier Magic tilts at a repeat. 12 have been declared for the biggest trophy of the week, and the chance to take home the winner's prize of £24,445, something rather more than the £400 available for weekend Point-to-Points on the circuit. But winning the Foxhunter is about far more than cash; it's a chance to make a mark on racing history in one of the most treasured races of the Festival, even among all those Grade Is. Friday's race is no easy task however. The Irish have been carrying all before them all week, and field 5 candidates, among them first and second favourites, It's On The Line from Emmet Mullins' yard, and Ferns Lock from David Christie's Ulster powerhouse. Ferns Lock has impeccable credentials, with three runs this season providing wins at Dromahane and Thurles, and a half length second at Down Royal. Christie also fields Ramillies, winner of Open races at Cragmore and Turtulla. Master of Cheltenham, Willie Mullins, also fields a candidate in Billaway, winner of this race in 2022, beaten just a head by It's On The Line at Naas in mid February. He seems to have lost none of his appetite for the game, despite now being 12. The other Irish challenger is Samcro, trained by Gordon Elliott, yet to get a look-in on the coveted winner's slot this week. A former winner of the 2 1/2m Grade I novice hurdle at the Festival, Samcro is a high quality entrant to the hunters' ranks with a sequence of 4 Open wins during the autumn to his record. Gigginstown horses have an excellent record at Cheltenham. But don't rule out the home team. Last year's winner Premier Magic has been prepared with this race in mind, and is unbeaten since pulling up in this race in 2022. He comes here on the back of a schedule that has been re-worked time and again following the wet winter's impact on the fixture list, but there's nothing in his wins at Brocklesby Park and Sheriff Hutton to suggest he is not on top of the task again. Bradley Gibbs has been riding out of his skin these past few months, so there is every reason to believe the pairing can strike lightening a second time. Sine Nomine comes into this race unbeaten, having come to prominence last Spring in a thrilling finish to the Point-to-Point.co.uk Novices Championship, aka the John Corbett Cup, at Stratford. A 3l second to Wagner at Alnwick prefaced a bloodless 15l win in a Wetherby hunter chase last month. He is the new English challenger for the Foxhunter mantle. Fiona herself is no stranger to this race, having won it as a rider in 2002 on Last Option for father-in-law Robin Tate. Hannah Roach saddles Time Leader, whose 28/1 price belies an excellent record. A winner four times for John O'Shea in the 2022-23 season during which he was also fifth in the Aintree Foxhunter, he has warmed up for this with a win at Hereford. He'll be ridden by Toby McCain-Mitchell. Our champion trainer also has a penchant for this race, having won it with Pacha du Polder in 2017 and the following year. Shantou Flyer was third behind Premier Magic last year, yet another placing in a race where he has made the frame on each of three occasions, but at 14, his best may be behind him. The same cannot be said for his young rider, Olive Nicholls, whose star is in the ascendant in the riding ranks. A case can be made for Quentin's Man, third in the Walrus Hunters Chase at Haydock in February, and D'Jango, behind Quentin's Man at Haydock but a winner at Warwick last month. Less so for From The Heart, whose runs at Dunsmore and Cocklebarrow reflect his likelihood of being in the finish. What a difference seven days can make! Just over a week ago Didmarton was abandoned with the course cloaked in snow but on Saturday there were no similar problems and the rescheduled Duke Of Beaufort's meeting went ahead without a hitch, writes Andrew King. And the Bradley Gibbs team limbered up for a big week at Cheltenham with his stable star Premier Magic attempting a repeat success in the St James's Place Festival Challenge Cup on Friday following a short-priced double courtesy of victories for Crocodile Lounge and Fier Jaguen. After opening at 4-7, Crocodile Lounge was well backed into 1-3 favourite for the Restricted contest and had no problems in justifying that support when making much of the running and seeing off Daisy Yeats by 15 lengths. Co-owner Adrian Simpson commented: "He is only five years old and that was just his fourth race in total. We hope he is a nice horse for the future and, with that in mind, we will play it softly, softly with him this term and take it step by step." Gibbs employed similar tactics aboard Fier Jaguen in the Mixed Open and the pair eventually pulled clear of their only serious rival, Tara Storm, from the home bend for a relatively comfortable verdict. However, Gibbs expressed himself a shade disappointed by the result, saying: "I am not sure Fier Jaguen was at his very best there for whatever reason but he has won well and there are not really any solid plans for him in the short term." Of Premier Magic, the rider/trainer was much more upbeat and said: "We are very happy with the horse ahead of Friday's race but he has obviously got no easy task in as it's always so competitive. However he has done everything we have asked of him in his build up and he had an away-day at Newmarket last week where he pleased us. He goes to Cheltenham in good form and hopefully can repeat last year's victory." Ready Steady Freddie Whereas Gibbs maybe approaching the twilight of his career in the saddle, the future can only beckon for teenager Freddie Keighley after he partnered his first ever winner when Sametegal took the honours in the Riders Conditions race. Keighley,16, the son of licenced trainer Martin, was understandably over the moon with the success and said: " My father told me to bounce the horse and make the running and the plan worked to perfection. I spent a week's work experience at Paul Nicholls' yard recently which was an eye-opener and when I left he kindly gave me Sametegal as a leaving gift - so here we are and I have to thank Mr Nicholls for this win." Perfect intro Ihandaya made the best possible start for new trainer Nicky Sheppard in the Conditions contest with a spring-heeled round of jumping that resulted in a authoritative call over What A Glance. The six-year-old's owner Clive Hitchings said: "He looked fantastic in the paddock beforehand and transferred those looks to the course where Natalie (Parker, jockey) has given him a great ride and I couldn't be more pleased. I understand the winning time was very good so that bodes well but, as far as any future plans maybe concerned, I will leave all that to Nicky and her team." Patience is a virtue The Hannah Lewis-trained Queenhill finally managed to get her head in front after coming out on top following a prolonged duel with favourite Money From America in the closing stages of the concluding Maiden. It proved a poignant moment for owner Mervyn Jones as he also bred the mare and he confided: "I have to admit it's an emotional moment for small owner/breeders like myself as I bred her, raced her and have to be very patient with her. She has always shown us there was a race in her and it was a matter of finding the right one. The door finally opened there but from where I was watching it was difficult to tell whether she had got up, so the judge's announcement proved a welcome relief." Glory for Gloria Fama Et Gloria proved the answer to the Members' race despite trying to throw it away when idling badly in front at the final fence. He rallied on the run-in to see off the challenge of Miltown Bridge by three lengths. Star performance Crocodile Lounge gave the distinct impression he is a smart horse in the making and seems certain to build on his victory. February 08th, 20242/8/2024 Eagle-eyed followers of Point-to-Point racing may have identified a key clue in pursuit of the winner of the St James's Place Foxhunter at the Cheltenham Festival in the gloaming of an otherwise unremarkable day at Wetherby last week.
Hunter chases no longer fill the way they used to and often produce small fields where the more companionable atmosphere of the Point-to-Point scene draws more. They used to call it "pot-hunting", with the Foxhunter trophy the largest pot there is, both in race value and the sheer size of the trophy. Wetherby's Join the Vickers Racing Club Open Hunters Chase included Sine Nomine in its 5 runner field, last seen winning the John Corbett Cup, aka the novice championship, at Stratford in late May where she impressed. Trained by Catterick Clerk of Course, Fiona Needham, herself no stranger to success in the Foxhunter, the grey mare Sine Nomine made full use of her mares' allowance to score here authoritatively with Benny's King and Windsor Avenue far in arrears. After the race, rider Jack Dawson told the Racing Post that the plan would be to head straight for Cheltenham. The highs and lows of racing were never more starkly shown than this past weekend when racing fans were reminded that Triumph and Disaster are two sides of the same coin.
On Saturday, East Anglian trainer Sarah Humphrey enjoyed the biggest win of her career to date when Nickle Back, her exciting 8 year old novice brought hearts to mouths on TV and around Sandown Park when jumping with breath-taking accuracy and joie de vivre in a pillar-to-post 7l victory over 5 rivals in the Grade I Scilly Isles Chase. Leading from the off, the gelding put in some astonishing leaps that left the crowd, as well, I suspect, as his rider James Best, gasping. Best was effusive in his praise afterwards, and unashamedly delighted at securing a first Grade I success of his own - an attitude that brought fellow riders out on to the Weighing Room steps to cheer him in. Humphrey is likely to swerve Cheltenham with Nickle Back, although he has an entry in the Turners over 2m4f, and head for Aintree - yet another sign that the British fulcrum of influence is heading north to Liverpool when faced with the dominance of Ireland at Cheltenham. But wherever there is racing, disappointment and tragedy are never far away. Hermes Allen, a well-fancied runner for champion trainer Paul Nicholls, fell badly and fatally at the last. To compound the Nicholls misery, tragedy stalked the amateur division of the sport on Sunday when Keagan Kirkby, a work rider for Nicholls, was fatally injured at Charing in Kent during the South East Hunts Club fixture, having been carried out through a wing in the concluding Restricted race. It's been nearly 7 years since the last fatality in the sport when James McNeile was fatally injured at Larkhill. One of the greats of the US steeplechasing scene, Jonathan Sheppard, has died, aged 82 at his home in Pennsylvania.
For racing fans of a certain generation, Sheppard was a pioneer of international travel when bringing Flatterer over to run in the 1986 French Champion Hurdle, a precursor to a valiant second to See You Then in the third of that horse's Champion hat-tricks in 1987. At that juncture, the Breeders Cup didn't even exist, and international travel, excepting between Britain and Ireland, and the continent, was largely non-existent. Flatterer's placed effort was the trigger to an effort to bring the US and UK markets closer together, brought about by the creation of the Sport of Kings Challenge, a set of six races - three on each side of the Pond - with handsome bonuses of up to $1m for winning a full set. Predictably, Sheppard was in the vanguard of the first US entries in the series, at Cheltenham, and Leopardstown. Commonly known just as "Jonathan", the elder statesman of US racing, was born in Ashwell, Hertfordshire, between Letchworth and Royston, in 1940 to a horsey family which encouraged his participation in local Point-to-Points. His father Daniel was an official with the Jockey Club, then the power in the sport covering regulation, finance, fixtures, the lot. Rides under Rules were scarce and limited. There was no inevitability about a son following his father into the sport. Three other siblings avoided the racing bug, but Jonathan opted to try his hand in the land of opportunity, not having the finance to bankroll a start up training operation in the UK. In the early sixties, he worked with other legend Burly Cocks for two seasons before returning briefly to the UK. A lucky break was the making of his career with steeplechasers. In 1965, he met George Strawbridge Jnr, an accomplished and wealthy amateur rider, and heir to the Campbell Soup fortune. The two set about growing a stable not just of National Hunt horses, but Flat too. Strawbridge was leading owner some 23 times from 1974 onward, a domination only really matched by one J P McManus over here. The Sheppard stable became both the go-to and the dominant force in the sport stateside. His 1,242 career wins over obstacles, winning over $25m, set records unlikely to be overtaken in our lifetimes, and he was Champion Trainer 26 times, the last just three years ago. But whilst to most, Sheppard was considered an icon of the National Hunt world, his 2,184 victories on the Flat dwarfed his Jumping achievements, his horses winning some $60m+. Like many good trainers of horses, Sheppard attracted the best human talent too. Those that worked with him have gone on to great success; just like the Duke and Reg Hollinshead, he was a nurturer of talent both equine and human. Graham Motion, who led up Flatterer in that epic Champion Hurdle adventure in '87, is now a highly successful Flat trainer in the States winning the Kentucky Derby in 2011 and Dubai World Cup 2 years later, whilst Janet Elliott became champion Jumps trainer in '91. More recently, Leslie Young and Keri Brion, who brought horses across to Ireland with a view to the Festival, have shown Sheppard's knowledge continued to flow even after his retirement. The Jumps world is a sadder place without his diplomatic approach, hard work and understated expertise, and the Point-to-Point world can take pride that he launched from our fold. Three of the world's quirkiest races8/15/2023 Steeplechasing runs a tightrope between managing safety and a daredevil adrenalin rush of jumping big fences at speed; two opposite ends of a spectrum forever in conflict one with another.
In the UK, standardisation of fences, with the almost wholesale adoption of uniform fences, seems to be the norm. Other racing jurisdictions, perhaps under less threat from the likes of Animal Rising, still illustrate considerable variation in the composition and scale of the obstacles. In France for example, the variety of obstacles in a cross country chase cover orthodox steeplechase fences, bullfinches, railed ditches, rails, and banks. Some even have water obstacles. For the best example of this, visit Craon in the Mayenne region of Western France. Craon's Grand Cross in early September is the highlight of a three day festival of flat, trotting and Jump racing that attracts around 15,000 spectators. France is of course a country where jump racing is thriving, underwritten by a breeder class seeking to grow a market for top class chasers. And as we know very well, exporting them to compete under British ownership has been a trait of the past 20 years here in the British market. Reverting to the style of obstacle, the town of Bad Harzburg in Germany enjoys a reputation for the deepest water crossing in international racing. the 20m wide river laps the riders' calves as the horses slow to a trot and wade across. yet in contrast to France, Bad Harzburg relies on a domestic population of just 15 chasers to populate its races. Without competitors from abroad, the race has a limited shelf life. Timber plays a leading role in the US steeplechasing scene, where alongside portable hurdles, chasers compete over the sort of fencing you might find adorning Sussex; timber rails up to 4ft 8 in height. The mother of all timber races is the Maryland Hunt Cup, held at the end of April, serving as a copycat Point-to-Point of yesteryear, over 4 miles and 22 fences. Unique among the world's top flight races, it is solely open to amateur riders. The race has a typically quaint Victorian heritage. Created as a contest between the Elkridge and Green Spring Hunts in 1894, the race set out to mark out the best hunter from the two packs, but was subsequently opened to other hunts in North America, and eventually any restriction was removed. And whereas only around 100 attended the first running, now many thousand enjoy the Spring scenery of the Worthington Valley, the race's modern permanent home. This is a race with a niche following that breeds an intense loyalty. With a $100,000 purse, it's no small prize either. This is a race meeting like no other, insofar as the obstacles are uniquely Maryland, but also there are no supporting races! If you're in the loo for 8 minutes, you could miss the whole purpose of the afternoon. Like much about steeplechasing, it's also gloriously politically incorrect. Even by US standards, the race was slow to admit women riders, only allowing them in the 70s'. The list of winning owners and riders reads like an old western from first winner John McHenry through Jervis Spencer Jnr, the billionaire Paul Mellon, five time winners D Michael Smethwick and Charles Fenwick Jnr, whose Ben Nevis used the Hunt Cup as a platform to win the Grand National at Aintree in 1980. This is a race which lends itself to course & distance winners. Several have won it three times, notable among them Jay Trump (1963, '64, '66), another who used the success as a platform to Aintree glory in 1965. Since 2016, allowing for a pandemic-induced break in 2020, there have been just 4 winners, including three time winner Senior Senator, ridden by Eric Poretz, and Irish-bred Vintage Vinnie, winner in 2021 and the following year. the 2023 winner, Withoutmoreado is a nine year old with virtually no previous steeplechase form, and certainly not under Rules. The 12l winner of an open maiden at Charm Park back in 2019, he didn't win again until breaking his timber maiden in the US at the Genesee Valley meet in autumn '21, since when the penny dropped, and he's rarely been out of the frame. In the specialist world of long distance timber racing, he's a firm favourite to hold on to the race in 2024. Quirky races like these may be an anomaly, but you only have to see the crowd that flocks out to watch Cheltenham's cross country races close up to a fence to know they touch a part of the soul other races cannot reach. Their unique nature defines the sport more than any orthodox race - however valuable - can. They need to be nurtured and protected to salve the sport's heritage. Put these three venues on your racing bucket list. You won't regret it. Northaw Racing NewsWelcome to the News page. Here you will find the very latest information about Northaw Races and race course conditions
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April 2023
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