SOUTH POOL HARRIERS
BUCKFASTLEIGH 20th
February 2005
by Lee Glanville
Local horses were in form at a
packed South Pool Harriers point to point on Sunday
Buckfastleigh-trained Sandy Duff powered back into the
winners’ enclosure with an impressive performance in the
ladies’ open for owner/rider Mary McCarthy. Sandy Duff is a
big, strong horse and looks anything but an easy ride, but Mary,
who scooped an armful of area awards last season, kept her cool to
shake off the attentions of Perky’s Pride (Charlotte Tizzard)
and Faith Again (Tanya Newman).
Gordon Chambers, also based near
the course, got the meeting off on a winning note with the Exeter
Racecourse Group’s Joli Christmas (Will White) in a hotly
contested confined maiden for entire horses and geldings but
Michael Holmes’s Axe Vale qualified Go Boy is a out and out
stayer and got to within half a length at the line. The maiden
restricted to mares only proved so popular it had to be divided on
entry and one division was split again on the day Langaller
Stud standing in to put up the prize money for the extra race.
Division One was a comfortably
win for the Bishop family’s Spanish Oath (Tim Bishop), a mare
making her first return to the track after sustaining a tendon
injury on her only run as a five year old. Things might have been
different though if Leslie Jefford had managed to defy gravity on
The Mead Partnership’s Trigger Mead. The pair were going
strongly three out when a mistake saw Jefford virtually on the
floor. He almost made it back in the saddle but had to give best to
the ground.
Division Two part one saw
victory for West Somerset Vale visitor Mollycarrs Gambul (A
Michael), with La Senorita (Vanessa Shaw), owned and trained by
Dartmoor hunt master and huntsman Mike Weir runner up. Part Two
went to Miss Ziggerson (Sue Young) trained in Cornwall by Jackie Du
Plessis.
A stewards’ enquiry - and
objection from the connections of the runner up - followed the
men’s open which saw Stone Valley (Andrew Glassonbury) pass
the post in front. However, he was ruled to have caused serious
interference to second horse Polar Flight (Richard Woollacott)
before and after the last fence and the result was reversed.
Mandy Hand, who for many years
had a stranglehold on ladies’ area riders’ title, was
in fine form on new purchase Frontenac and took the second division
of the Restricted from favourite Boddidley (Chloe Roddick). The
first division had gone to the Harrison’s Alfora
eight-year-old Itchen Mill and another flying the flag for the
Portman hunt was Intermediate victor Mister Swallow (Michael
Miller).
Clerk of the Course Michael
Lethbridge almost had a home turf win his By My Side (Colin
Heard) was second, and ran prominently throughout.
Results
Confined maiden (horses and
geldings): 1, Joli Christmas, W White; 2, Go Boy, M Holmes; 3,
Wendy’s Dynamo, M Munrowd. 15 ran, 1/2l.2l, 6.18.
Intermediate: 1, Mister Swallow,
M Miller; 2, By My Side, C Heard; 3, On His Toes, W White. 14 ran,
2l, 6l, 6.06.
Mare’s Only Maiden
Division One: 1, Spanish Oath (T Bishop); 2, Rydon Brook, J
Snowden; 3, Golden Spirit, R Green. 14 ran, 15l, 1l, 6.20.
Division Two part one: 1,
Mollycarrs Gambul, A Michael; 2, Little Apple Bay, Miss S Gaisford;
3, Annie Dipper, T O’Brien. Nine ran, 8l, 10l, 6.20.
Part two: 1, Miss Ziggerson,
Miss S Young; 2, La Senorita, Miss V Shaw; 3, Essex Bird, Liam
Heard. Eight ran, 15l, 2l, 6.20.
Men’s Open: 1, Polar
Flight, R Woollacott; 2, Stone Valley, A Glassonbury; 3, First
Officer, T Dennis. 14 ran, 3/4l, 10l, 6.08. Stone Valley passed the
post first but after a stewards enquiry the placings of the first
two horses were reversed.
Restricted Div One: 1, Itchen
Mill, D Jacob; 2, Askers Jack, J Snowden; 3, Ryders Hill, Miss V
Shaw. 13 ran, 1l, 25l, 6.12.
Div Two: 1, Frontenac, Mrs M
Hand; 2, Boddidley, Miss C Roddick; 3, Rogue River, T
O’Brien.13 ran, 1l, 1/2l, 6.11.
Ladies’ Open: 1, Sandy
Duff, Miss M McCarthy; 2, Perkys Pride, Miss C Tizzard; 3, Faith
Again, Miss T Newman. Nine ran, 12l, 5l, 6.03.
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