The large crowd was treated to a beautiful sunny day but very few runners at Tabley on Sunday. The ground was good to firm and some connections decided not to declare on the day. In the end there were only three races and a walkover with the Restricted and Veteran and Novice Riders races each voided.
During the break in proceedings racegoers were treated to a parade of the Randox Foxhunters winner Gracchus De Balme, with the owner Derek Malam, jockey Huw Edwards and trainer Joe O’Shea being interviewed by the course announcer Will Kinsey.
In the opening Conditions Race (Level 2), Amber Jackson-Fennell rode Buzzard Trix, deputising for Tommie O’Brien who had injured his shoulder in the last race at Aintree on Friday. She dictated the pace from the front and although Huw Edwards on Frontal Assault threatened to close after the third last, Buzzard Trix had four lengths to spare at the line. The winner, trained by Heidi Brookshaw, had won the Lord Daresbury North-West Final here last year and is well-suited to the track.
In the PPORA Small Keepers Race, Marina Bealby on Due Reward opened a lead going on to the final circuit and had no trouble in winning by ten lengths from Huw Edwards on The Creadan Rogue. This was the jockey’s second win having won before Christmas on Precious Bounty. It was a true family affair with her mother owning the horse and her father Ashley training it.
In the concluding Maiden, Jos Lovegrove-Fielden on Jump on Board won by ten lengths from Huw Edwards on Crackerjack Queen. Jos was deputising for the owner Jet Williams Wynn who had unseated at Bangor on this horse and broken her pelvis. The six-year-old gelding had been bought privately for the owner by Dan Astbury after some respectable runs in Irish points last May. Jet’s husband Harry is Master of the Wynnstay and was delighted that the winner was running in the colours of his late grandfather Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. It was also a first training success for Poppy Wynne, sister of national hunt jockey Toby and daughter of Stephen.