REVIEW
TIVERTON
CHIPLEY PARK
Sunday 5th February 2006
by Lucy Johnson
Josh Guerriero’s first ever
point-to-point ride was a winning one at Chipley Park on Sunday
when Orswell Crest won the mixed open. The 17-year-old has been
with Minehead-based National Hunt trainer Philip Hobbs and his wife
Sarah, who owns the gelding, for a year and his task was to
“get the horse right” before their daughter Diana, 16,
takes over. She finished second in the same race on her debut on
Wave Rock and then notched the first win of what looks a promising
career when Saint Romble took the PPORA race.
Sent off the 5/4 favourite, Diana pushed the
nine-year-old into the lead at the last fence and went on to score
by ten lengths despite giving seven pounds to second placed Bak On
Board. Interestingly, Diana’s older sister Catherine, who is
currently learning to become a ski instructor in Canada, won the
same race last year on the same horse.
Orswell Crest’s trainer Marie McGuiness
scored the second double of her career when Long Night easily won
the third of three maidens under Devon and Cornwall’s area
champion Richard Woollacott.
Marie has run an overflow and pre-training
yard for Philip Hobbs at Stockland Lovell Manor in Somerset for the
last nine years while her husband Leighton worked for Hobbs for ten
years before joining Marie. For the past two seasons they have
trained point-to-pointers.
Another on double form was Bristol University
vet student Isobel Tompsett who landed divisions one and two of the
maiden on Frenni Girl and Ghost Buster.
Peter Lowe’s six-year-old Frenni Girl
finished a distance ahead of Rickham Glory in the first division
and Ghost Buster was the sole finisher in the second division. This
was the second winner for Maggie Stephens who trains the gelding
for her husband Jerry in South Wales. Bought “very
cheaply” from Doncaster last year, his task looked easy after
his three opponents fell, unseated and refused.
Trowbridge-based owner/trainer Michael Blake
has always had faith in Soul King’s ability and the
11-year-old duly delivered in the intermediate under Charlotte
Tizzard winning by 25 lengths. The gelding had benefited from a
wind operation in the summer and could well be aimed at a hunter
chase at Folkestone in May.
Peter Mann, 18, pushed Killarney Prince to
the front in the restricted and made all the running until the last
when Beggars Brook went ahead. But when he swerved left to hug the
rail, he threw the race away allowing Killarney Prince to win by
two lengths.
His owner/trainer Jo Mann, Peter’s
mother, who had earlier watched Keegan Bearnais fall at the ditch
second time when travelling well, was full of praise for the horse
who stands at just 15.2hh.”We’ve had him since he was a
three-year-old when we broke him in and he is such a poppet,”
she said.
The members’ race was a match between
Jabiru and Royal Predica with the former defying his 13 years to
win by a neck. It’s the fifth time Mary Sanderson, who runs a
pub in the middle of Tiverton, has won the race with the
gelding.
RESULTS
Members: Jabiru (Mr D Edwards) 1; Royal
Predica (Mr G Weatherly) 2. Two ran, nk. 6.48.
Mixed Open: Orswell Crest (Mr J Guerriero) 1;
Wave Rock (Miss D Hobbs) 2; Ballinarrid (Mr M Miller) 3; 5l, ¾
l, 6.12.75.
Intermediate: Soul King (Miss C Tizzard) 1;
Buckland Boy (Mr W Oakes) 2; Come On George (Mr S Gray) 3. 1l, 25l,
6.28.
PPORA Club Members: Saint Romble (Miss D
Hobbs) 1; Bak On Board (Miss C Tizzard) 2; Polka (Mr D Edwards) 3.
10l, 4l, 6.08.33.
Restricted: Killarney Prince (Mr P Mann) 1;
Beggars Brook (Mr M Miller) 2; Kings Euro (Mr W Oakes) 3. 2l, 2l,
6.12.01.
Maiden (Div I): Frenni Girl (Miss I Tompsett)
1; Rickham Glory (Mr M Sweetland) 2. Two finished. Dist,
6.46.04.
Maiden (Div II): Ghost Buster (Miss I
Tompsett). Finished alone, 6.32.4.
Maiden (Div III): Long Night (Mr R
Woollacott) 1; Great Game (Mr M Munrowd) 2; Vics Pride (Miss C
Tizzard) 3. 10l, 1 ½ l, 6.29.73.
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