REVIEW
TANATSIDE
EYTON ON SEVERN
Sunday 19th March 2006
by Arthur Shone
The rescheduled Tanatside meeting
between the flags at Eyton on Severn produced an excellent days
racing. The cold wind did not help with crowd numbers but those
that stayed away missed seeing some really good horses and there
will be a lot of future winners that will come from this
meeting.
With the exception of the Members, there were
plenty of runners at Shropshire course. One of the main reasons for
this is down to the clerk of the course John Beddoes, who produced
perfect racing ground and once again came in for a lot of praise
from owners, trainers and riders.
Gloucester born rider Adrian Wintle took
centre stage at the Shropshire course yesterday when he reached a
notable milestone, riding his 100 th point to point winner. This
came aboard Go Classic in the first division of the Restricted with
the mare winning readily by 8 lengths from Fresh Love with
According To This a further 5 lengths back, staying on in third.
The winner is trained at Bishops Castle by Pam Sykes, who was
recording her 4 th win of the season. The winner is co-owned by
Frank Cornes from Bayston Hill, Dave Edwards from Welshpool and
Clive Gittins from Chirbury in Montgomery.
The second division of the Restricted was run
in a faster time of 6m 22s, three seconds faster than the first
division. This was won in a hack canter by the Sheila Crow trained
Which Way Now who made every yard under the champion rider Richard
Burton to win on the bit by 20 lengths from Boolabawn with William
Hill in the plate. The winner is owned by William and Angela Rucker
from Saleway, Nr Droitwich.
Sheila Crow thinks very highly of the Anshan gelding. Speaking
after the race, she said,” Edward (Crow) and I bought him on
one of our shopping trips to Ireland and we liked him as soon as we
saw him. The plan today was to hold him up, but Richard (Burton)
said that he could not hold him so he just let him go and in the
end he had a job to pull him up as he was still going so well. This
is a very progressive horse, who will improve a lot from this race.
I see him as a very serious horse with a big future ahead of
him.” This was Richard Burton’s 19 th winner of the
season and he’s well on target to retaining his national and
area championship titles.
The Men’s Open was won in impressive
style by the Gary Hanmer trained and ridden Border Fusion, who
quickened away from the last fence to beat Fane Counsel with plenty
in hand by 4 lengths with Reel Dancer a further 6 lengths back in
third. The winner, who has a reputation as a quirky individual, has
always been very useful and Hanmer has gone on record as saying
that the son of Weld was the best horse that he has ever trained.
He will now be aimed at the Lady Dudley Cup at Chaddersley Corbett
according to his owner Gordon Crawford from Nantwich, who is a
racecourse bookmaker and bets under the name of George Simpson.
Sadly the runner up broke down badly after the race.
There was a cracking finish at the end of the
Intermediate race. Lord Bush, under the champion rider Richard
Burton, set out to make every yard from flag fall and very nearly
succeeded until they were caught on the run in by Thompsons Wood
who got up by a length and a quarter under a perfectly judged ride
from Liam Payter. The winner is trained at Durlow, Nr Ledbury by
Debby Ewing. The Glacial Storm gelding was formerly trained in
Ireland by Joe Walsh and was bought by Debby at the Doncaster Sales
in May of last year. The winning owners are made up of a syndicate
called “Thomo’s Monday Club”; they comprise of
neighbours and friends of the trainer, most of which are based in
the Ledbury Area.
The Ladies’ Open was a very thrilling
affair. Approaching the final fence Benbow, trained by Gordie
Edwards, held a slight lead with the trainers wife, Sarah in the
plate, but the closing pack finished so fast that Benbow amazingly
did not make the frame. Magicien looked all over the winner under
Lorna Brooke, but Hannah Kinsey timed her run to perfection on
Prince Dundee winning in the final strides by half a length with
Stormy Sunrise was a further 6 lengths back in third. The winner is
trained at Condicote in the Cotswolds by Martin Keighley, who also
co-owns the horse with Dave Cull and Dave Phipps. The latter is the
building manager for Cheltenham racecourse. As for the winning
rider, she was thrilled to get off the mark for the season, as she
drew a blank in 2005.
Only four runners went to post for the
opening Members race but you could not call the winner until the
last fence when Adam Wadlow touched down first on Dare, pulling
clear on the run in to beat The Peter Morris trained Times Past by
two and a half lengths. The winner is trained by Jonathon Lee at
Welshpool and the winning owners, James and Jean Potter, are also
from the Welshpool area.
Morville rider Adam Wadlow went on to record
his first ever double in the plate when Beligerent won the second
division of an incident packed Open maiden by 12 lengths from
Strolling with Gunsmoke a similar distance away in third. The
winner was also a career first for Bridgnorth trainer Belinda
Clarke, who purchased the horse in Ireland from Tom Costello.
Students of the form book would have noticed
that the John Groucott trained Latzod’Alm was runner up last
time out to Go Classic, winner of the first division of the
Restricted here, at Barbury. Sent off the 1-2 favourite, he was
confidently ridden by William Hill to land the spoils by 8 lengths
from the fast finishing Astormydayiscoming with Hidden Depth, from
the Caroline Robinson yard, an eyecatching third under Adam Wadlow.
The winner is trained at Much Wenloch by John Groucott who said
afterwards that the winner used to be trained in Ireland by Paul
Keen and added that he suffered a minor setback in training prior
to his run today and that they had waited with him to get the good
ground at Eyton. The winner is owned by Roy Swinburne from
Pattingham, who said that many people always associate him with his
other useful horse John Foley.
Groucott went on to complete a double in the
“Getting Out Stakes”, the Confined Maiden, with Here To
Eternity, who came late and fast under Will Kinsey to collar the
well backed Will Wings under Richard Burton by two and a half
lengths. The winner is owned by Mark Harris and his wife Dean from
Berrington Manor. Mark bought the winner cheaply for only a grand
out of Terry Mills yard. The Harris’s also own the very
useful No Retreat and Precious Bane.
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