REVIEW NEW FOREST FOXHOUNDS LARKHILL SATURDAY 16 MARCH 2002 by Bob Bracher & Gill Armstrong |
The New Forest Foxhounds held their Point-to-Point last
Saturday at Larkhill. Highlights
were successes for two of the area's most promising horses, Whatashock and
Kingscliff, and a riding double for Godfrey Maundrell.
A good card saw some competitive racing, with the weather remaining
fine all afternoon. The opening race, the Confined Hunts, saw a change in fortune
for trainer Jane Galpin and rider Tigger Barnes.
Both have been awaiting their first victories of the season and
Prince Sandrovitch, wearing the colours of owner Daphne Farmer, obliged
here. The horse, who won
under Rules for Mark Pitman, had previously run some good races at
Larkhill and was overdue his first point-to-point victory.
Jane trains 11 horses at her yard at Bratton Seymour, near
Wincanton. The Maiden race was divided into three.
The first division was the first leg of Godfrey Maundrell's double
aboard the promising six-year-old Sola Topee.
This was a first ever winner for owner Cathy Cochran and trainer
Liz Addison, who both come from Lockeridge, near Marlborough.
The horse, who only has a 14-year-old hunter to train with at home,
was bought at the Doncaster Sales by Chris Hewlett, who used to stand the
sire, Sylvan Express, at his stud. Division 2 was won by eight-year-old Themaster's Choice,
owned and trained by Bob Buckler, who bought him as an unraced
four-year-old at Doncaster. Bob
hopes a year point-to-pointing will 'make a man of him' and expects he
will return to National Hunt racing next season. Top Tyke, owned by a syndicate of three - Martin Dare and
Terry Hamlin, both auctioneers, and John Snook, a farmer - won the final
division. His victory was a
great improvement on his last visit to Larkhill when, having unseated his
rider at the fifth fence, he was eventually caught at Stan Rawlins' farm
at Figheldean, some four miles away. The Mixed Open proved another facile victory for Whatashock,
ridden by Emma Tory and trained by her mother, Mary Tory.
As in his previous completed races, he won unchallenged.
Owners John Frampton and Adrian Coombes have turned down some large
sums for the horse and are now eyeing a Novice Hunter Chase at Exeter on
April 9 as his next likely outing. The
race was marred, however, when his main rival, Ciara's Prince, was pulled
up and had to be put down. Welsh raider Longstone Boy, part owned and trained by Eric
Clough from Pembrokeshire, won the Intermediate race. Making his first ever visit to Larkhill, a 4½ hour journey,
Longstone Boy was a good winner from a useful field and may now be aimed
at the Dunraven Bowl Hunter Chase at Chepstow in April. The Restricted saw another impressive victory by
five-year-old Kingscliff, owned by Arnold Sendell and trained by Louise
Alner. The horse, who is
likely to remain point-to-pointing for at least one more season, looked in
command when his principal rival, Working Lunch, fell at the last fence.
Arnold added that his other good horse, Aberfoyle Park, is likely
to go Novice Chasing next season, when he will be trained by Louise's
father, Robert. The final race, the Club Members', resulted in Godfrey
Maundrell achieving his double aboard his own Bally Wirral, who may have
been unlucky when unseating his rider a week ago in the Hunt race at
Barbury Castle. |