10 March 2008 Cumberland Farmers - Dalston
Duggleby: launches himself over one down the far side at Dalston
The biggest smiles on the course belonged to Cherry and Jacqueline Coward after the Connolly's Red Mills Intermediate won by Duggleby. "They've been talking about this for two weeks, how they must go to Dalston and win the coats!" grinned rider Oliver Greenall, referring to the jackets generously awarded to the winning connections by the sponsors.
Duggleby, who was bought at the sales as a yearling for £1 - "He was thrown in with another horse so it was buy one, get one free," explained Cherry - has a short back which tends to give problems, so is ridden all the time at home by Jacqueline in order to keep the weight off him.
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Oliver was completing a double initiated in the Maiden Division One Part Two by Pristine Condition, and a treble at Charm Park the following day means he now has a lead of three over James Tudor in the national championship.
Pristine Condition is trained by Cherry's brother David Easterby, paying his first visit to the track. "I like it here so I think I'll come back," he said, adding of the winner "His future lies under Rules, and I think he'll be a 120-rated horse in time."
Coincidentally, both the Greenall winners were sired by Tamure.
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Oliver is no stranger to doubles, but Richard Smith, grandson of former leading Northern trainer Denys Smith, impressed many onlookers as he recorded his first in two of the Maidens on Celestial Hall and Quinta de Lobo, both trained by his mother Elaine. Both horses were bought on the same day at Ascot last June, with Celestial Hall being a spur-of-the-moment purchase "because we loved his face!" said Elaine.
Quinta de Lobo can be "a bit loopy" according to Richard. "He wouldn't go near another horse at the Sinnington and had to be led round at the start," he said, "but today he was no problem at all."
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Another impulse sales buy, Waterford, won Division Two under Kelly Bryson. "We hadn't marked him down in the catalogue but we liked him when we saw him," said owner Philippa Shirley-Beavan.
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"Somebody asked me what the ground was like on the far side but I said I didn't know because I hadn't got that far." Tom Oates, whose first two rides were short-lived but who eventually made it round in the Intermediate.
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"I told them this morning that one of them had got to win because it's my birthday." Tango Bojangles didn't listen, but The Names Bond, who had never previously scored over further than 2m4f, took the Ladies' Open for handler Morag Herdman, whose first baby is due in seven weeks time.
Rider Rose Davidson is due to be in action at Sedgefield and Hexham during the week prior to her Cheltenham ride on Middleton Dene.
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The last of the 11 races finally got under way in rapidly failing light just after 6pm, leaving all the competitors and the majorityof the crowd querying why, with nine races originally scheduled, the organisers had not brought racing forward one hour from the advertised start time. The 35 minutes between races was also adhered to, and there was even the somewhat ludicrous situation of the starter holding the field for several minutes to ensure the action did not commence before the scheduled off time.
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"I've been bored all day waiting around, and I kept thinking I've come here for nowt because it'll be too dark to run." The wait is eventually worthwhile for Victor Thompson, whose headstrong Flagmount King, who runs in a gag, won the Restricted, despite severely testing Andrew Richardson's stickability on occasions.
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"At least I've put a stop to that!" Ran Morgan, leading rider at the meeting with two winners and two third placings, spots his brother Luke's name engraved on the trophy, which he won for the past two years.
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Ran took the Confined on Vicky Simpson's Jacksonville and the Men's Open on Eskimo Jack, trained by Gillian Kerr. "You have to let him think he's the boss," said Gillian, but whether she was referring to the horse or her partner, trainer Andrew Parker, wasn't clear.
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Chris Callow rode his first winner since reverting from conditional status when taking the Members' race on Barneys Luck, and Chris Dawson won the last of the five Maidens on Iowa.
Trainer Kevin Robson's wife Anne reported Iowa to be "a really cocky sort who's full of himself. If we hadn't run him today," she commented, "we wouldn't have been able to sit on him at home."
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"It's like a ploughed field, only deeper." One experienced rider's assessment of the going, which took its toll on the number of finishers.