“It’s probably one of the best days of my life,” said Nick Sutton at Kingston Blount yesterday after his son Ben rode a treble and won a national championship on the final day of the season.
As if a first treble were not enough, Ben leapfrogged Conor Houlihan to land the Highflyer Bloodstock national novice men’s title – 11 wins to nine – and his victory on the Alan Hill-trained Sir Mangan, who is owned by Nick (pictured above with his son), ensured that horse won the Connolly’s RED MILLS champion horse title.
Nick also had special reason to appreciate the final leg of the treble, which was achieved on Sir Mangan’s stablemate, Festival Dawn. Sutton, who expressed his thanks to everyone who had ensured point-to-pointing went ahead during the season despite the challenges imposed by Covid, said: “I’ve got to be careful what I say, because I want to treat all my children equally – which I do – but that has been an amazing day. I thought we might have one winner and Ben would tie with Conor – we would have been happy with that, but for Ben to ride a treble, and complete it on my first home-bred winner. You can’t get better than that.”
Ben has been working for Hill, who said: “Ben has got a lot better at riding, but also at race riding and using his brain in races. I like novice riders to think about what they are doing in races, and that’s what Ben is doing.”
On the same card Natalya Irvine stamped her name on the Highflyer Bloodstock national novice women’s title when scoring on the Tom Ellis-trained Blazing Tom, who has carried her to four wins this season, and the narrowest of victories over Rosie Howarth. Ellis retains the Foran Equine champion trainer title for yards with eight or more horses.
Hill, a key player in the maintenance of Kingston Blount as a racecourse, had tirelessly watered the running line in the days before the meeting, but was rewarded with 78 runners, a terrific figure for a fixture so late in the season. He said: “We’ve had a great day’s racing and it was nice to see so many people enjoying their day at Kingston Blount. It has been an honour to have stood in for the Torrington Farmers’ meeting at Umberleigh [in Devon], and to hold the final fixture of the season for one year.”
Hill trained a treble on the day, completed by Normofthenorth’s win in the season’s final race. The victory carried rider Izzie Marshall to nine wins for the season and the runner-up spot in the Skinner’s women’s championship behind Gina Andrews, while men’s champion James King sealed his first national title with a win aboard Kaproyale in the Restricted.
