Granny Hawkins runs up a hat-trick for Alan King
Bright Spring sunshine made for perfect racing conditions as 61 runners graced the first of four Sunday fixtures at Stratford this summer, and three favourites obliging made it honours even in the ring.
Stratford's summer programme rarely hits the headlines, catering largely for horses at the lower end of the quality spectrum. This is a perfect opportunity for the lesser lights of the sport - human as well as equine - to win their share of the limelight as the big guns of the sport put their horses away for a summer break.
Champion Trainer Elect Dan Skelton had eschewed this fixture to chase down his pursuit of a season prize pool of £5m at Plumpton instead, but a contender for top honours in the making is Ben Pauling, whose 20% strike rate across this season has already given him a career best both in terms of volume of winners and prize money.
6 year old mare Harnica added a further £5,446 to the £1.5m total in breaking her duck in the opening mares maiden hurdle under Beau Morgan. She'd been knocking on the door in the frame at Windsor then Ludlow so was posted 11/10 favourite and the penny appeared to have dropped, bar a mistake at the last. 3l runner-up Lady Kara looks to be on a similar trajectory and may also be winning soon.
Alan King has been without a marquee horse to thrust him into the spotlight at major Jumps fixtures this season, but carefully selected juveniles bought off the flat give him an admirably consistent record each season even so. Like a bellwether, his 40 or so winners a year are earning his owners around £700k each season.
Granny Hawkins is taking a liking to the jumping game, the Mid-Warwickshire Cleaning Supplies Mares Handicap Hurdle being her third win on the bounce for the master of Barbury. That she's learnt her trade became evident at the third, where she and Tom Bellamy deftly avoided the unseated Danny McMenamin to continue unruffled to a 2 1/2l win over Fromheretoeternity.
Sandwiched between these two races was a triumph within a triumph. An unremarkable 3m2f handicap hurdle was the focus of a celebration of 30 years in business for the Green 4 Motor Company, a vehicle dealership across 4 sites in Coventry and Leamington Spa. Given the economic climate, this in itself is a triumph, capped by another when Malton trainer Mike Sowersby delivered his seventh winner of the term, and the second within six days, in the form of 9l winner East Eagle, under Charlie Maggs.
A model of perseverance, East Eagle has been counting down the races to a third win over hurdles, his last 3 outings being a fourth, third then second consecutively. Admirable as it is, it's difficult to see how the like of Sowersby can make a living from such a precarious career choice; the lure of the sport must be a fascination onlookers cannot fully appreciate.
Another scraping by in the sport's lower echelons is Belinda Clark, whose Bridgnorth stable has sent out just 23 runners this term, the most recent of which, Yes And Yes, decided to put his best foot forward in the 7 runner 3m 3f handicap chase. Lee Edwards held the 9 year old in rear until four out, made steady headway to lead at the last and win a shade comfortably to score for the stable for the first time this term.
The closest finish of the afternoon arrived in the Racing TV - sponsored handicap hurdle over 2m 2f, where two runners from the same yard fought out the finish. 7lb claimer Oscar Palmer on Three Pikes and Lily Pinchin on Juan Bermudez both represent Henry Oliver, with instructions to give their owners plenty of opportunity to see their colours. prominent throughout, they joined battle just after halfway, and a neck separated them at the line, the remainder a respectful 7 1/2l further behind.
Two chases concluded the card, both falling short of each way betting. In the first of these, Paul O'Brien gave favourite backers a copybook ride to land the 15/8 about Carbon Copy with a seamless transition from last to first over the final mile in the Geely Leamington Spa novices handicap, whilst the card concluded with a hunters chase, a chance to win over course and distance before the Hunters' evening on May 29th.
12 year old Killer Clown showed a clean pair of heels to younger rivals in this 2m 6f open hunters chase for trainer-rider Daisy White from Malmesbury. Killer Clown is enjoying his twilight career, this his third scalp of the season after wins at Ludlow and Hornby Castle.
