Author: Peter McNeile

The attention of sports fans was perhaps centred more on events at Trent Bridge and Ascot than Stratford yesterday, but the six race card in beautiful early summer sunshine provided some highly entertaining sport nonetheless.

Appreciate is showing the form of Joe Root as he notched up a hattrick in the opening Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle for Milton Harris and Mitchell Bastyan. Showing good pace to pick off the leader Kolisi at the last, Appreciate was following up on wins here in May, and a short head victory at Newton Abbot 4 days previously, which clearly hadn’t left a mark. And whilst the standard of this race is hardly on a par with England’s talisman batsman, there would appear to be more in the tank from this improving four year old.

The ensuing Mares’ Novices hurdle over the minimum trip provided an eventful finish. Turning in, Symbolic Spirit led, with Lunar Shadow not making much of an impression, and Quiet Thunder in third. The first two fell independently of each other at the last, allowing conditional Chris Ward to pick up an unexpected 50/1 winner for Sarah Hollinshead. Both fallers were none the worse for their tumbles. This was Ward’s first winner of the new term, and 38th in total.

Alan King, trainer of faller Lunar Shadow, exacted compensation later in the afternoon in a very exciting further Novices hurdle over the minimum trip, in which Rafiki, given a forceful ride by Tom Bellamy, got up by a head to beat Tardree and Olly’s Folly. Just five ran in this race, but any one of four could have won a furlong out, proving that small fields can often make for great finishes.

Sarah Humphrey’s small West Wratting yard in Cambridgeshire enjoyed 9 winners last term, and courtesy of Glimpse of Gold, winner of the RacingTV free for a month Handicap Hurdle, she is already a third of the way to levelling that score with just seven weeks of the season behind us. This was the eleven year old’s third consecutive win following victories at Fakenham in April and May and the gelding lacks nothing in enthusiasm. Conditional Jay Tidball was in the plate.

There was more scrubbing going on in the closing stages of the Join RacingTV Now Novices Handicap Chase than you will find on HMS Pinafore. Three were in contention coming out of the back straight, all three under pressure to maintain their position. Eventual winner Boston Joe, for Rebecca Curtis’ South Wales yard, was locked in battle with Invincible Wish from Sarah Jane Davies, with School For Scandal in hot pursuit. Conor Ring conjured a terrific late run from Invincible Wish, but the winning post came just in time for Paul O’Brien on Boston Joe. The winning distance was a neck.

The excitement was far from over however, as the golden hour from 3.20 – 4.30 was punctuated by winners by a neck, a head and a neck – enough excitement to challenge Trent Bridge, where Stokes and Bairstow were in full flow after the tea interval. As the two England batsmen made short work of the 299 run chase with overs to spare, the appropriately – named Ahead of Schedule, long time leader in the closing Watch on RacingTV Handicap Chase over 2m 6f scarped home from Wavecrest. In stark contrast to Trent Bridge’s final result, the neck winning distance was, to paraphrase Wellington, ” a close-run thing”.

The action returns to Stratford on June 28th, when we may be basking in a third test win by our boys in white at Headingly, but Stratford spectators will be most royally entertained by our six winners.

It’s not uncommon for National Hunt horses to switch codes in the summer and feature on the Flat. There is lucrative prize money on offer in the leading stayers’ division.

Here is a look at some of the best jumps horses who are likely to appear on the Flat this summer and what their main target will be.

Earlofthecotswolds

Hurdles and chase winner Earlofthecotswolds showed how effective he can be on the Flat when he won one of the biggest races on All-Weather Finals Day at Newcastle. He was successful in the All-Weather Marathon Championships Conditions Stakes, getting the betting of a smart horse from John and Thady Gosden’s yard by a neck.

Nigel Twiston-Davies’ runner is now being prepared for a shot at the most prestigious stayers race in the sport. Given how tough he was at Newcastle last time out, he is likely to be one of the Royal Ascot tips for the day three contest this year, where he is 16/1 in the betting.

It is going to be very interesting to see how the National Hunt horse fares against Trueshan, former winner Stradivarius and Kyprios in the feature race of the Royal meeting. It is being billed as one of the strongest renewals of the Ascot Gold Cup in a number of years, so he will need to be at his best to land the spoils.

Proschema

Dan Skelton is a regular trainer here at Stratford, as this is one of his local tracks. The Lodge Hill man had an excellent year in the 2021/22 National Hunt campaign. One of the horses who gave him success last season is Proschema. The seven-year-old also finished second in a Grade Two contest at Wetherby.

The talented hurdler is set to appear in the Northumberland Plate at Newcastle this year. The heritage handicap contest takes place over the extended 2m trip at the northeast racecourse. It is a real stamina test, which the seven-time winner should relish.

If Proschema can come out on top, Skelton will join the likes of Jonjo O’Neill, Donald McCain and Martin Pipe as National Hunt trainers who have won the “Miners’ Derby.

Vauban

One of the stars of this year’s Cheltenham Festival meeting was Vauban. Willie Mullins’ juvenile prevailed in impressive fashion in the Triumph Hurdle. He then followed that up with another Grade One victory at the Punchestown Festival.

Connections of the gelding have indicated they are keen to enter their horse in some of the big Flat races this year. His first target could be the Ebor Handicap at York in August. The Irish trainer won the valuable handicap contest in 2009.

If everything goes well at the Ebor Festival, the four-year-old then may head Down Under for a shot at the richest 2m handicap race in the world, the Melbourne Cup. That’s a contest Mullins has had entries in before but has yet to win so far.

Hopefully we see all three of the above horses back over obstacles in the 2022/23 National Hunt season following success on the Flat.

The highs and lows of being a racehorse trainer were amply illustrated on Sunday as Warminster trainer Milton Harris, formerly of this parish, notched a double but endured an empty berth in the horsebox for the third of his runners on the way home.

The regeneration of the Harris story is one of endurance over adversity. A man who at the turn of the century was among the higher echelons of the mid – size stables found financial stability difficult to secure. The ignominy of bankruptcy was followed by a spell in the doldrums before finding new premises at Sutton Veny, outside Warminster. Last season proved a breakthrough year, with 56 winners and nearly £600,000 in prize money, including a first Grade I winner in Knight Salute, perhaps a fortuitous sole winner of the Anniversary Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree after the demotion of dead-heating Pied Piper.

Since that memorable April day, there has been no let-up in the Harris momentum. The season is not yet a full month old, yet 18 runners have yielded 3 winners on a 17% strike rate.

And so to Sunday’s eventful programme. Harris’s first runner, Achy Breaky Heart had contributed 3 winners last term to that 56 winner tally, and four out looked set to add to that tally, leading into the final fence whilst pressed by Princess Midnight. However, both horses fell independently, leaving Jamie Snowden’s Howdilyoudo to break her chase maiden tag.

There’s an old adage in racing that you have to jump round to win, and this was one example, but also one in which the game Achy Breaky Heart paid the ultimate price.

No winner can compensate for losing a horse in a race, but the Harris – Mitchell Bastyan combination were quick to make amends. Not half an hour later, Appreciate won the Allen Vs Ford Selling Hurdle by 3l in a competent display that saw him bought in for 5,200 guineas.

Stratford is one of very few racecourses who nowadays persist with selling races. Perhaps it’s because there are so many opportunities to buy at auction, from Tattersalls in Newmarket and Cheltenham, to Yorton Farm or Goresbridge, but thee seems little doubt that bringing the theatre of the auction house to the track adds to the drama around racing. Is there a brave racecourse out there prepared to turn the concept on its head and stage a valuable seller rather than one catering solely for the lower reaches of the sport? Step forward you innovators!

Milton Harris’s second winner to alleviate the loss in the second race came courtesy of 4/5 favourite Copshill Lad in the closing bumper, appropriately enough sponsored by Milton Harris Racing. The dark grey gelding had the race well under control and the 2 3/4l winning distance in no way describes the ease with which the winner put his rivals to bed. Look out for more from this Middleham Park Racing – owned gelding.

Two other Wiltshire trainers have endured contrasting fortunes these past 12 months. Neil Mulholland has consistently proved his worth in the top flight of those yards without big money owners, finishing last season with 62 winners and £588,000 in prize money, none of which accrued from big race winners. In the course of so doing, he responded to his owners’ requests, including several innovative and great fun trips to Les Landes Racecourse on Jersey, where the prizes make UK racing look like Hong Kong by comparison, but where the craic is good.

Mulholland is another on fire at present, and a 30% strike rate in chases means only a fool ignores his runners presently. Ragamuffin, under a resolute ride from Sam Twiston-Davies, probably had the upper hand when his main rival Above Suspicion from the Tom George yard fell at the last in the catchily titled Fantastic Roasts at Riverside Novices Handicap Chase, to offer up the race at a 9l winning distance. Nevertheless, with six winner in the past week alone, it would be a brave man to oppose Mulholland runners just now.

Neil King’s fire has not been burning quite so brightly these past few months. Last season was in no way a failure, but the 15 winners had to be grafted for, and he will have been glad to start a new season with a little more momentum. In 2/1 joint favourite Give Me A Cuddle, he will have been glad to welcome his seventh winner of the new term in the Riverside Restaurant Stratford Open To All Maiden Hurdle. The winning owner was Andrew Cohen, former owner of Suny Bay and Uplands, the training yard made famous by Fred Winter.

You can never rule out the West Country in seeking winners during Stratford’s summer months, and Sunday proved the rule once again. Philip Hobbs produced a winner in Shantou Sunset, perhaps not one of the yard’s leading lights, who lacked nothing in determination to wear down the Mulholland – trained Viking Sunset, who looked the stronger at the last, in the Live Music at Riverside Mares Handicap Hurdle, under a robust ride from Jack Martin.

And 25 miles away in Wellington, David Pipe is a man you ignore at your peril. His may not be the big punting yard of his father in his heyday, but he learnt his trade from a master of the profession, and winners they come aplenty. Vernon Subutex, a winner of seven of his 24 starts in France, made a winning debut in the 2m 6f Stratford Parks Thank you to Owners Handicap Chase.

May is a busy month at Stratford, and we look forward to starting all over again on Saturday.

David Christie was the toast of Stratford on Friday night, capturing two of the sport’s most prestigious prizes for the Point-to-Point community on the country’s most valuable night of hunter chases. The County Fermanagh trainer showed a clean pair of heels to his British counterparts in the last of the three British Foxhunter chases and the Novice Championship.

As if to re-inforce the fixture as the Go-To event for aspirant pointers, Vaucelet, winner of last year’s Pointtopoint.co.uk Champion Novices’ Chase John Corbett Cup, stepped up a grade into full open company to displace David Kemp’s Law of Gold, the previous year’s winner, in the Pertemps Network Stratford Foxhunters Chase.

A muddling pace early allowed Vaucelet to take a leading position with Le Breuil and Dandy Dan, winner of the Ineos Grenadier Intermediate Final at Cheltenham last month, Law of Gold taking the shortest route. In truth, the slow pace made for plenty of jumping errors, which diminished as the pace stepped up on their final circuit, when Law of Gold pushed Le Breuil for the lead.

Three out, Le Breuil had given way to Law of Gold, Vaucelet, Solomon Grey and Downtown Getaway, but the first two, with Stratford form already on their record, had drawn clear, and Vaucelet asserted at the last to run out a 4l victor.

Half an hour earlier, Christie’s other runner, Ask D’Man, had looked an improbable winner in the Champion Novices Hunters Chase, hunting around the first circuit, and only showing his hand 4 out, when making some headway. Turning into the straight with one to jump, Ask D’Man still had 7l to make up on long time leader Go Go Geronimo, but despite a less than perfect jump at the last, showed some good speed to take the inner berth and get up by 3/4l.

Both winners were ridden by Barry O’Neill.

The double allows Christie the admirable position of three of the UK and Ireland’s leading hunter chasers, given he also trained Winged Leader to be second behind Billaway in the Cheltenham Foxhunters.

The three runner Nimrod Veterinary Products Ladies Championship Hunters’ Chase produced another close finish despite the small field. The Waley-Cohen team, represented by father Robert and recently retired Sam, watched Igor just come off worse against dual hunter chase winner Fumet d’Oudairies, representing the Ellis-Andrews partnership that dominates the amateur division, and the drop in class from the heights of the Cheltenham Foxhunter allowed the Tom Ellis-trained gelding to regain a winning thread over regulation fences.

The White Swan Hotel Handicap Hunters Chase is the only handicap in the hunters calendar, but Zamparelli, trained by Victoria Collins in Broadway and ridden by leading Novice rider Freddie Gordon, made the race into a procession, extending a 7l lead at the final bend to over twice that distance at the line.

The long trip from Devon proved well worthwhile for connections of Say About It, qualified with the Torrington Farmers, whose Point-to-Point fixture is the traditional closer to the season in a fortnight. Only 4 of the seven declared faced the starter, and that field was down to two by the closing stages, where Say About It was pressed by Spanish Jump, trained by former rider and At The Races presenter Luke Harvey. Three lengths separated the two at the line for a delighted winning rider Vincent Webster.

The opening PPSA Chase over the minimum distance had spectators with their hearts in their mouths as locally-trained Azzuri, trained by Nick Pearce, assistanct to Dan Skelton and Clerk of nearby Shelfield Park point-to-point course, teamed up with stable amateur Tristan Durrell, but just failed to hold on against Across The Line, trained by Syd Hosie in Dorset. Syd enjoyed success at Cheltenham’s hunters’ evening, but his current crop of Rules horses are back with Joe Tizzard after running his own training operation with Nick Mitchell, then Ralph Smith.

There’s plenty of evidence that British Point-to-Point owners are buying in Ireland. Three of the five runners in the concluding Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Champion Point-to-Point Bumper are Irish-bred, and in keeping with the theme of the evening, it was the Irish-bred Patanita, confidently ridden by Peter Bryan, who took the honours for Georgina Nicholls and the splendidly-named G & T Partnership.

Little need to relate how they would celebrate their success.

Trainers best known for their midwinter stable strength were in charge at our most recent fixture on Saturday evening in front of a sizeable crowd enjoying the late Spring sunshine.

First of our winter types to strike was Emma Lavelle, whose successful partnership with Tom Bellamy delivered Light N Strike to win the Hydraulic Centre Ltd 40th Anniversary Handicap Chase by 7 1/2l. The bigger obstacles evidently appeal to the Leading Light gelding; this was his third victory from just 7 starts over fences.

Kim Bailey, a model of consistency, was next up, with 10l winner Shantou Express in the Technicair Air Conditioning Handicap Hurdle. A paltry 4 faced the starter – scant reward for the delivery of good watered ground, but consistent with the plague of small fields facing the sport at every level currently. Bailey enjoyed a good 2021-22 season without hitting the dizzying heights of the previous season with Grade I success. He of all people will appreciate that you train what you have in front of you, and sadly many owners have opted to bring their horses home this Spring rather than wait for softer conditions underfoot at £50+ per day and in all honesty, who can blame them?

Forgot To Ask notched a fourth chase win in the last steeplechase of the evening, the Charles Peters Recruitment Handicap Chase, as Jonathan Burke kept his cool to reel in the Henry Brooke – trained Dhowin at the last and win going away. It didn’t look that way around the final bend, but the distance to the line can be deceptive at Stratford, and so it proved once again. The winning distance for the Tom George – trained winner was 4 1/4l.

The demands of training racehorses as a business have grown an increasing trend of business partnerships from the upper reaches of the flat to small time Jumps handlers. Paperwork, red tape, and the sheer demands of overseeing syndicates rather than single owners have made this a necessary means of spreading responsibility. Charles and Adam Pogson are one such combination, albeit with a limited number of horses. it’s difficult to fault their 33% strike rate in this latest season however, enhanced by Larch Hill’s 2 1/2l victory over favourite Atlantic Storm in the feature Alan Clarke 80th Birthday Handicap Chase. 2 winners from 6 runners may make this an unrepresentative statistic, but it’ll still be one to savour.

Someone with an even more impressive strike rate presently is Richard Hawker, training near Frome. Home-bred Thirsty Farmer was handy throughout before taking it up around the final bend and seeing off runner-up Vinnie’s Icon to win the Mid Warwickshire Cleaning Supplies 50th Anniversary Handicap Hurdle over 2m 6f. The Hawker stable is currently on fire with a 60% strike rate and two winners from the last 3 runners.

The days of big field novice hurdles seem a long distant memory, and it could be argued that young horses learn more in small, less bustling fields. Yet a small field doesn’t prevent a good finish, and the best of the evening was that which headed the card in the Glentucky Derby Novices Hurdle over the minimum trip. The race turned into a fight between Tardree and Toronto, in which the latter, trained by Brian Barr, showed good speed to assert 150 yards from home to win by 3/4l under Angus Cheleda.

The evening concluded with the fixture’s largest field in a Novices Handicap Hurdle in which the Adam West – trained Noahthirtytwored held off the in-form stable of Milton Harris, represented by Tarseem, to land the spoils by 4l.

Dan Skelton’s success at the Cheltenham Festival has been somewhat sporadic, unlike his rivals with whom he will do battle for the major honours over four days next week. Willie Mullins, Henry de Bromhead, Nicky Henderson, Gordon Elliott, Colin Tizzard and Paul Nicholls will all have ambitions of securing the leading titles of the week, with the Irish contingent boasting a strong claim for seemingly every top race at the Festival.

However, Skelton has had a solid season with his best horses and could be in line to shock spectators across jumps racing by making a successful bid for the Gold Cup among others, which feature a number of intriguing prices in the Cheltenham betting 2022 options. Skelton has more than a decent shout in the signature event of the week in the Gold Cup with his charge Protektorat, laid out for the race. The bay gelding is considered one of the leading contenders in the Cheltenham Gold Cup tips behind A Plus Tard, Galvin and Minella Indo for the blue riband of the sport. To win the Gold Cup would be a significant breakthrough for Skelton to announce himself at the top table.

He has achieved victories in the Mares’ Hurdle and County Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival before, but a win for Protektorat would raise Skelton’s game immeasurably. The bay gelding has an outside chance after recording a win in the Many Clouds Chase at Aintree in December, hammering the rest of the field by 25 lengths, including former Gold Cup winner Native River, after which he was put away for the Spring. A Plus Tard, Galvin and Minella Indo are a step up in class, but Skelton can at least be confident that his charge can compete with the best in the business, and he will be fresh after a midwinter break that has seen him prepared specifically for this moment.

The Gold Cup is not the only race targeted by Skelton in pursuit of a successful Cheltenham. There are other opportunities for Skelton to pick up significant scalps outside of the Gold Cup. Third Time Lucki has been a solid operator over the course of the campaign and is an intended runner in the Arkle Chase. He was beaten by the race favourite Edwardstone in his last outing at Warwick in the Kingmaker Novices’ Chase and was previously off the pace in another contest against his rival in the Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown Park. However, Third Time Lucki does have two victories at Cheltenham Racecourse under his belt this term and merits a run in the Arkle Chase to upset the rest of the field.

Nube Negra finished just behind Put The Kettle On in the Champion Chase last season and will run again in the contest next week. The scale of the challenge has been increased by the presence of Shishkin and Energumene, who are expected to battle it out for the leading honours. Last year’s favourite Chacun Pour Soi is also present and will be out for redemption for Mullins. Skelton’s charge did beat a talented field in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham in November, including last season’s Champion Chase winner, but was off the pace in his last race in the Tingle Creek Chase, finishing fourth. At odds of 14/1, he could be worth an outside chance given his record at the racecourse, but he will have to put in a sterling performance to defeat the hot favourites Shishkin and Energumene or hope for a mistake from both horses. However, in a race like the Champion Chase, one mistake is all it needs to lose the advantage. A foot perfect round could yet be enough to land the odds.

Skelton is well placed to make an impact at Cheltenham Festival, but he will need the rub of the green and brilliant displays from his charges to announce his arrival among the elite of the sport.