13 May 2008 Cumberland - Aspatria
Briscoe Place: a late call up for rider Claire Metcalfe
It was 9pm on Friday when Claire Metcalfe got the call to ride Briscoe Place in the Ladies' Open, his intended rider Caroline Hurley having broken her leg in a fall at Aintree earlier that evening. Claire, who works for Howard Johnson, is enjoying her best season, and she added to her tally with a pillar to post success.
"Claire did a brilliant job," enthused trainer Jackie Williamson, who may now send her charge to Stratford for the Ladies' Hunter Chase on May 24th. "He had bad teeth when we got him, and he's difficult to hold because he shakes his head so much if you get hold of him, so you need to drop your hands and let him relax."
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"Did I really hear you say that you were going to buy a 50% share in a chesnut mare?" Charlie Sample's less-than-impressed reaction to wife Fiona's announcement last year that she was having an interest in Men's Open winner Hartburn.
Fiona is shortly to be ordained, "So I'm almost a racing vicar," she smiled.
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Coomakista, who was trained by Hartburn's handler Tim Reed to finish runner-up in last year's Pertemps Cup, and in 2006 had landed the Weatherbys Chase John Corbet Cup from wife Emma's yard, has been retired to the paddocks. "She was working better than ever this year, but something wasn't quite right, and it was a very minor suspensory problem which she's had before. Rather than leave her for another year her owners decided to put her in foal, and she's been covered by Alflora," he explained.
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Chesnut mares were in the ascendancy, as Fergus Jestin's home-bred Hapthor and George Bewley's Bromley Abbey, neither of whom reportedly displays the awkward traits often attributed to their type, also triumphed on the day.
"I have to ride her every day, and I'm a pensioner," said Fergus of Hapthor, who ran on well in the hands of Matthew Garnett to win the Members' race going away. Matthew is based with Ferdy Murphy, and was quick to credit the Middleham trainer for his help and advice.
A Maiden race fall saw Matthew prone on the ground for a few minutes, but happily he escaped shaken but not stirred, with no bones broken.
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Bromley Abbey, who won the Maiden Division One, was a gift horse from breeder Arthur Eubank to George Bewley for his son Jonathon to ride. It was a third success of the season for the teenager, who a year ago was in a coma after a fall at Ashorne, where his mount landed on top of him. Jonathon is still partly based in Warwickshire, where he is at Moreton Morrell College, and where he has ridden out quite a bit for Fred Hutsby. "I come back home to ride every weekend," he said, "so everyone thinks I'm mad!"
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Division Two went to Ross Dickson on his mother Helen's home-bred Reivers Fort, who, said his owner, has been a nightmare from the day he was born. Her comment that "His steering has been dreadful" was borne out by the fact that he ran wide on the bend at the end of the home straight, but the fitting of a Kimblewick and a martingale appears to have mainly solved the problem.
Ross was wearing what can only be described as a fairly tatty set of colours. "My mother wore them when she was riding," he explained, "so I suppose they could be about 35 years old." An estimate which may not have been wholly flattering to Helen!
Helen and her husband Norman had spent five months last year walking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, a distance of a mere 2,650 miles, for the simple reason that "It was something we'd always wanted to do," she smiled.
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"I know I've got to sweat for Monday, but this is taking the piss!" Tom Oates, referring to his forthcoming ride on Garden Feature in the Volkswagen Touareg final, makes it clear to owner Graham Macmillan that he would prefer to be wearing silks rather than a thick woollen jumper on a such a warm day.
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It was a mixed day for Luke Morgan, who was decanted on the way to the start by Tomopolly, the eventual runner-up in the Members' race. He filled the same position in the first Maiden on the favourite Pirongia Mountain, but in between he took the Restricted on Leading Pearl, whose owner Willie Kerr has retired from the saddle. "I've reached the age where the doctor has to sign a form before I can ride, so I decided to stop," he admitted. "But as long I can still do two out of the three - owning, training and riding - I'll settle for that."
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Luke's personal life also came under scrutiny in the changing tent. "He actually found a woman for the first time in ages," reported one of his colleagues, " but unfortunately after one night she dropped him, so he's looking again!"
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Another former rider who doesn't enjoy being a spectator is Jimmy Walton, whose Jupiter Jo took the Club members' race under stepdaughter Catherine. "Watching grates a bit," he admitted, but when you're old and knackered you have to!"