Parham March 21st 2009 Race by Race
Report by Nicola Dean
Race 1: The Crawley & Horsham and Kent & Surrey Bloodhounds Hunt Members, Subscribers and Farmers Race
7 horses were declared for the hunt race in which prolific winner Cape Stormer (Marcus Gorman) was making his seasonal debut and unsurprisingly was sent off the 1/5 favourite. Marcus Gorman’s Sironi with Ben Bentley deputising was next in the market at 4/1 with Daretobedifferent (David Evatt), Eurotinker (Gordon Gallagher) and Sharlom (J Ackhurst) all at 8/1 and Dans Blarney (Giuseppe Gigantesco) and Thelaughingmagpie (Nigel Benstead) the outsiders at 14/1.
Eurotinker was the leader over fence one, but had dropped back to third with Cape Stormer and Sironi leading by fence two where Daretobedifferent unseated. The remaining six continued together over the rest of the first circuit with Cape Stormer and Sironi at the front of the field followed by Eurotinker and Sharlom with Thelaughingmagpie and Dan’s Blarney at the back. Dan’s Blarney hit fence eleven and lost several lengths on his rivals. At fence thirteen, Cape Stormer was urged to increase the pace and had opened up an advantage over his rivals by fence fourteen. Sironi was the first to chase Cape Stormer followed by Eurotinker and Sharlom who hit the fourteenth. Eurotinker had closed the gap on Sironi in second by fence sixteen whilst Cape Stormer had opened up a huge advantage and only had to jump the final two fences to take the hunt race. Eurotinker appeared to suffer the consequences of giving chase and started to lose ground on Sironi approaching the seventeenth whilst Thelaughingmagpie had started to make up ground and had taken fourth from Sharlom. Cape Stormer was eased down after jumping the last but still managed to win the race by a distance from stable mate Sironi who in turn was a distance clear of Thelaughingmagpie who managed to overhaul the tired Eurotinker after the last to take third.
1st Cape Stormer Marcus Gorman 1/5 (Favourite)
2nd Sironi Ben Bentley 4/1
3rd Thelaughingmagpie Nigel Benstead 14/1
4th Eurotinker Gordon Gallagher 8/1
Time 6 mins 21 secs Distances a distance and a distance. 6 finished
Race 2: The Tim Dunlop Memorial Restricted Race
A field of just 3 was declared for the restricted race which saw Kommetjie (Nick Pearce) sent off the 4/6 favourite with The Tailor Carey (Marcus Gorman) at Evens and Double Measure (Alyce Fisher) at 6/1.
Double Measure was the early leader with The Tailor Carey and Kommetjie racing side by side a short distance behind. The three runners set a reasonable pace and all jumped well until fence six where Double Measure made a mistake and was very slow which allowed the three runners to group together again. All three jumped fences eight, nine ten and eleven together but Double Measure had just dropped behind the other two at fence twelve (second open ditch) where he hit the fence and on this occasion Alyce Fisher was unable to stay in the saddle. After fence thirteen Marcus Gorman urged The Tailor Carey on and had opened up a 2 length advantage by fence fourteen but Kommetjie was being niggled just as much by Nick Pearce and the gap between the two runners was not lengthening. Kommetjie hit fence fifteen hard and lost ground on The Tailor Carey and it looked like a double was on the cards for Marcus Gorman. At fence seventeen The Tailor Carey had a four length advantage over Kommetjie but Kommetjie was starting to make up ground and the gap had shortened by the last fence. Kommetjie continued to battle hard on the run in and it was left to the judge to call the result, with the official decision giving the race to Kommetjie by a short head.
1st Kommetjie Nick Pearce 4/6 (Favourite)
2nd The Tailor Carey Marcus Gorman Evens
Time 6 mins 23 secs Distance a short head. 2 finished
Race 3: The Harwoods Mixed Open Race
Five runners were declared for the Mixed Open race which saw Theatre Knight (Nick Pearce) sent off the 4/6 favourite with Glenbower Woods (Philip Hall) at 6/4, Elenas River (Kevin Dixon) and Harrycone Lewis (Heather Kemp) at 7/1 and Dad Says Heazle (Steve Spice) at 10/1.
All five runners set off at a reasonable pace with Theatre Knight and Harrycone Lewis just taking the lead at the first fence closely followed by Glenbower Woods, Dad Says Heazle and Elenas River. All five runners continued together over the next four fences although Harrycone Lewis dropped back to fourth whilst Elenas River moved up to second by the time the field reached the fifth fence. By fence seven Theatre Knight, Glenbower Woods and Elenas River had opened up an advantage over Dad Says Heazle and Harrycone Lewis of four to five lengths. The leading trio continued to race together as they set out on the second circuit. At fence twelve (second open ditch) Harrycone Lewis was pulled up which left Dad Says Heazle continuing a long way behind the other three runners. After fence thirteen Theatre Knight was urged to move away from his two closest rivals and had a small advantage by fence fourteen but neither Glenbower Woods or Elenas River were going to give up easily and both set off after Theatre Knight. Glenbower Woods had closed the gap at fence seventeen, but hit the fence hard unseating Philip Hall. This left Theatre Knight back in front, but Elenas River was right on his tail at the final fence and closed the gap on landing. The two horses battled side by side on the run in and both horses stuck their necks out on the line and again it was left to the judges to call the result. The official decision from the judge was that the pair had dead-heated. Dad Says Heazle continued at his own pace to finish third a distance behind the winning pair.
1st= Theatre Knight Nick Pearce 4/6 (Favourite)
1st= Elenas River Kevin Dixon 7/1
3rd Dad Says Heazle Steve Spice 10/1
Time 6 mins 19 secs Distances dead-heat and a distance. 3 finished
Race 4: The Latilla-Campbell Open Maiden Race
6 maidens went to post in the fourth race of the day. Lovely Day (Phil York) who had looked a likely winner at Detling when unseating at the penultimate fence was the joint 4/5 favourite with the bookies alongside Midleton Madness (Gordon Gallagher) who was just beaten into second place in the same race. Caged Tiger (Heather Kemp) and Golding Hop (Chris Thomson) were both at 7/1 with Jack Knappy (Alyce Fisher) at 10/1 and Young Emma (Peter Bull) at 12/1.
Golding Hop employed his usual front running tactics and led the six runners at a reasonably steady pace throughout the first circuit, leading from Caged Tiger, Young Emma, Midleton Madness, Lovely Day and Jack Knappy. At the start of the second circuit Jack Knappy was starting to get detached from the other five runners with Golding Hop continuing to lead. Young Emma hit fence eleven hard and Peter Bull used all of his skill to stay in the saddle as the horse slid along the ground on landing. Young Emma was again very low over fence twelve (second open ditch) losing more ground on the four rivals in front of her. Caged Tiger hit fence thirteen and lost some momentum whilst Midleton Madness had moved up to take the lead as Golding Hop started to drop back. Young Emma and Jack Knappy were both pulled up at fence fourteen when tailed off from the other four runners. Lovely Day started to make a move to lead at fence fifteen from Midleton Madness, Caged Tiger and Golding Hop who was pulled up at fence sixteen. The remaining three runners jumped the penultimate fence together and were still locked together at the last where they were again in the air together, but Lovely Day was the one with a little left in reserve to gain a two length advantage at the winning post. Midleton Madness finished second three lengths clear of Caged Tiger.
1st Lovely Day Phil York 4/5 (joint favourite)
2nd Midleton Madness Gordon Gallagher 4/5 (joint favourite)
3rd Caged Tiger Heather Kemp 7/1
Time 6 mins 32 secs Distances 2 lengths and 3 lengths. 3 finished
Race 5: The Michael Burrows Memorial Confined Hunts Race
6 runners were declared for the confined hunts race and initially there were 3 co-favourites in Foxspur (Phil York), Independent Trader (Nick Pearce) and Soldershire (Hannah Grissell) all priced at 2/1 but both Foxspur and Soldershire drifted slightly to 9/4 before the start leaving Independent Trader the bookies' favourite. Delgany Gale (Philip Hall) was also well backed from 8/1 to 4/1 with Badgers Glory (Will Hickman) at 8/1 and Rushing Again (Tom Cannon) at 12/1.
Soldershire was sent off to lead the field at the first fence and set a relatively fast pace as the 6 runners continued on the first circuit. Rushing Again dropped from third to fifth at fence five behind Soldershire, Foxspur, Delgany Gale and Independent Trader leaving just Badgers Glory behind him. Independent Trader hit fence seven and lost some momentum but at fence eight Soldershire was the one who got it wrong and unseated Hannah Grissell, leaving Delgany Gale and Foxspur in front. Independent Trader was pulled up at fence eleven reducing the field to four with Delgany Gale and Foxspur just ahead of Badgers Glory and Rushing Again. Foxspur and Delgany Gale picked up the pace again at fence thirteen to pull clear of Badgers Glory and Rushing Again. At the penultimate fence Foxspur and Delgany Gale were together, but Delgany Gale found the extra that Philip Hall asked him to produce to pull clear at the final fence to win by eight lengths.
The stewards interviewed Nick Pearce with regards to the running of Independent Trader and accepted the explanation that the horse was never traveling.
1st Delgany Gale Philip Hall 4/1
2nd Foxspur Phil York 9/4
3rd Badgers Glory Will Hickman 8/1
4th Rushing Again Tom Cannon 12/1
Time 6 mins 22 secs Distance 8 lengths and a distance
Race 6: The South East Hunts Club Members Conditions Race
Again a field of only 3 was declared for the last race of the day. Lord N Master (Will Hickman) was the bookies' favourite at 4/5 with Master T (Peter Bull) at Evens and Beggars Brook (David Evatt) the outsider at 6/1.
Lord N Master jumped off to lead the field whilst Master T sat back behind his two rivals. All three jumped well whilst setting a reasonable pace over the first circuit, by which time the three were pretty much together in a line across the track. At fence thirteen Lord N Master and Master T had opened up a big advantage over Beggars Brook and Master T made a mistake which allowed Lord N Master to open up an advantage of about 4 lengths. Master T was pushed on to close the gap and was starting to challenge Lord N Master at fence fifteen where Lord N Master was the one who made the mistake and unseated Will Hickman. This left Master T and Peter Bull clear of Beggars Brook who was nearly a fence behind continuing at his own pace. Master T safely negotiated the final three fences to win the race by a distance from Beggars Brook.
