Famous Clermont won a £1,000 bonus at Cothelstone yesterday evening when clinching the Print Concern Restricted Championship.
A new national sponsorship for this season, it reaches a conclusion this weekend, but Famous Clermont’s conditions race victory under Tommie O’Brien (pictured above) carried him to 18pts and an unassailable lead. Until then the Michael Watson-trained Where’s Wilma was in pole position, but she is not entered this weekend, while For Rita, Pillowman and Ryans Fancy, who all hold engagements on Saturday or Sunday, cannot now catch Famous Clermont.
Trained in Dorset by Chris Barber, the six-year-old has been a busy horse this season. He won a maiden race at Larkhill in December and was then second in a restricted race before triggering his place in the Championship when winning a Print Concern Restricted race at Cothelstone last month. Returning to the Somerset course yesterday he added another six points to his tally, but in between those point-to-point outings he had also run under Rules when the sport locked down, taking part in three races and gaining places in a bumper and a novices’ hurdle.
Flamous Clermont after his win with Tommie O'Brien and Chris Barber
He is owned by Messrs Biddiscombe, Rousell and Collins, who are eyeing a Cheltenham engagement next year. Barber said Famous Clermont was likely to be roughed off now to preserve his intermediate status with a view to targeting the hunters’ chase at that level at the Cheltenham evening meeting.
Famous Clermont's owners - wet but happy at Cothelstone
The series is the brainchild of point-to-point owner and trainer Tim Underwood, who is the head of Print Concern, a printing business based in Cowley near Oxford. Underwood wanted to raise money for the National Health Service, and it was agreed that entry fees for the 20 restricted races he was sponsoring would go to the NHS. He is also sponsoring the Print Concern Restricted Hunters’ Chase at Stratford’s meeting on May 28.
Tim Underwood, the head of sponsors Print Concern