06 May 2008 North Ledbury - Maisemore Park
Gothic Charm: refused to accept defeat in the Confined
Having walked the course and found good going on Friday afternoon, Hanley Swan based trainer Andy Hobbs decided to mount a 7-horse raid on Mondays North Ledbury meeting at Maisemore Park.
Unfortunately, the weather is something we cannot control and overnight rain left the course much softer than anticipated which effectively ruined the chances of a majority of his horses.
Hobbs did have cause to celebrate after Saint Reverien had comprehensively outpointed his rivals in the Mens Open. The 9-year-old suffered a horrendous fall at Howick over Easter and has taken some time to recover from those exertions but the team at Tyre Hill stables have rallied round and they were repaid with victory in this contest.
Adrian Wintle was content to track Gentle Rivage until sending his mount into a race winning lead around the final bend to land the spoils for Clive Hitchings.
After an up, there generally has to be a down and this was certainly the case for the Hobbs/Wintle partnership in the Confined.
Olivier started a very warm favourite for this contest, despite the presence of stablemates The Brooklet and Un Jour A Vassy, but as the starter dropped his flag, Olivier remained rooted to the spot and refused to start.
With the fellow Hobbs runners weakening down the back straight, David Mansell and Gothic Charm were left in the lead although this was gradually being whittled away by Coldabri, but Gothic Charm refused to accept defeat and hung on by a neck to provide Hollybush trainer Roy Shail with his second success of the weekend.
As if to emphasise the ups and downs phenomenium, David Mansell looked set to claim victory in the closing Maiden.
He produced Maddies Dream with a well timed run to lead between the final two fences, but with victory in his grasp the 7-year-old lived up to his racecard comment "has his own ideas".
Before his rider had a chance to respond he veered across the course, hampering several runners in the process before finally consenting to jump the fence and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Montys Moon was the major beneficiary of this incident and he came through to land the spoils under Mikey Harris for the 8 strong Full Monty Racing Club headed by Cradley based Curtis Munrowd.
Shail had also won the Maiden at the two day meeting at Cold Harbour when Mister Kay Bee owned by Longdon Farmer Keith Bayliss out speeded his rivals on the run in.
