A REMINDER OF OUR PAST

Only a small minority of our Point-to-Point courses have permanent facilities, the rest have no such luxury so it requires the dedication and hard work of teams of volunteers who turn small areas of the British Countryside into racecourses in the space of a few days.

Ramblers walk past these innocuous looking fields oblivious to the fact that on race days, thousands of spectators witness horses and riders risking life and limb thundering over 18 fences on bleak English winters afternoon.

Many of these courses disappear into obscurity for the next 350 days but their style and diversity makes them all unique. Some are more popular than others but I for one would not want to see their numbers or variety diminish.

Owners, trainers and jockeys all contribute greatly to our sport, but the unsung heroes are landowners and farmers. They put up with the inconvenience of having their land put out of use, to provide Hunts with the vital ingredient they need to hold their meetings.

The West Midland Area is extremely fortunate because a majority of our current courses have been in use for 50 years or more.

According to the record books racing has taken place at Upton upon Severn since 1909 and at Chaddesley Corbett since 1925 (although it was originally on the other side of the main road).

Racing commenced at Woodford in 1946 while I have it on good authority that Didmarton started a year later (although the 2006 edition of Mackenzie and Harris states that the course was first used in 1956) and racing has taken place at Andoversford since 1960.

On that evidence, Upper Sapey, Maisemore Park and Paxford could still be deemed to be in their infancy despite the fact that the former was first used in 1984. Racing at Maisemore Park started two years earlier in 1982, so it will celebrate its 25 th Anniversary in 2007, while Paxford was introduced onto the West Midland rota in 1997.

Other courses have disappeared, but they are not forgotten. The Cotswold and Cotswold Vale Farmers used a course at Brockworth Court at various times between 1946 and 1949, while Churcham was used once by the Cotswold Vale in 1958. Information on both of these venues has eluded this researcher.

THE OLD RACECOURSE - COLWALL
1960 – 1963

National Hunt Racing took place at Colwall Park between Thursday 10 th May 1900 and Thursday 25 th May 1939. (A full history of the course is provided in A LONG TIME GONE BY CHRIS PITT (PORTMAN PRESS – ISBN 0-900599-89-8).

Colwall lay dormant until it was resurrected as a Point-to-Point course in 1960. The North Ledbury only had a short tenure at this venue before it closed down permanently in 1963.

The meeting has led a nomadic existence prior to and since then with fixtures taking place at Bushley Park, Upleadon, Knightwick, Whitwick Manor, Bitterley and Maisemore Park.

I am indebted to Chris for the following course description “Left handed oval with a slight hill on the far side and a run-in of 400 yards”. A plan of the course and close examination of a photograph taken in 1932 shows that the course was situated between the railway line and the Malvern Hills.

There was a short straight alongside the railway line then a slight left-hand bend into the finish. The back straight appears slightly uphill with a run down and then up to the finishing post.

There is no reason to believe that the set up would have been significantly different when the course was used for Point-to-Pointing and this is borne out by newspaper reports of the meetings held at this venue.

The 1960 meeting attracted some top class horses with brothers George and Bill Yardley grabbing the headlines in the following weeks Malvern Gazette. The brothers fought out a close finish in Division I of the Mens Open with Danny Boy II and Bill prevailing by a length over his brother on Gelderland.

The Gazette went on to say “It was the first time since the war that the Hunt has held its races on its own course, but the large crowd who patronised the event proved that it was a wise move on the part of the Point-to-Point Committee”.

It is interesting reading the report of the meeting in the Gazette in 1963.

“Thrills and Spills at North Ledbury Hunts Point-to-Point at Colwall on Wednesday, reached their climax when in the last race the winning owner jumped the rails as the horses neared the finishing line.

The excited owner Mr R J Shail (believed to be Ray Shail) was hit by the horse that finished third and suffered a cut to his head, which needed attention before he was able to return home.

Mr. Shail did not expect the horse to win and when he saw it was going to be first past the post, he jumped the rails in his excitement.

The horse Hollybush Wonder finished a head in front of its nearest rival in the best finish of the afternoon. The third horse was only a head behind in the second”.

Shail had the distinction of owning and training the last winner over the course and judging by those headlines, Colwall Park went out with a bang rather than a whimper.

BUSHLEY PARK
1946 - 1966

Bushley Park held its first meeting on April 16 th 1946 and was a popular venue for the Ledbury, North Ledbury and Cotswold Vale Farmers meetings until it closed in 1966.

One of my earliest memories is selling racecards at this meeting. The first bet I ever had was on an unconsidered 33-1 outsider called Dunshill Hope at the Ledbury meeting in April 1963.

The Geoffrey Sale Annual of that year states that "he went into a long lead and looked likely winner until falling at second from home". As a naive schoolboy I had already started to count my winnings as Roger Guilding steered Jack Lanes gelding home, but then disaster struck.

It was a hard learnt lesson and although I probably did not think so at the time, one that has proved invaluable in later life.

Bushley provided visitors with a good view over the whole course and with one notable exception the runners were in view the whole time (more of that later).

The runners started with their backs to the penultimate fence and had a relatively short run to the first obstacle. The second jump followed soon afterwards and was sited at the bottom of a short but relatively steep incline, which faced the runners as soon as they had jumped that obstacle.

After about 50 yards the course flattened out before the runners took a right hand turn where they meet the third fence. They then meet the rising ground and ran along the ridge of a small hill, which always silhouetted the runners against the skyline before they jumped fence four.

Fences five and six, which was just before the farm at the far end of the course . Here the runners disappeared behind some buildings, where the results of many races were decided.

I recall one horse disappearing behind the farm with an unassailable lead, only to emerge the other side with the rider dismounted. I am not aware of what excuse the pilot offered to the Stewards for this manoeuvre but I have subsequently discovered that the owner/rider confided afterwards "that the bugger will win when I want it to and not when everyone else does".

When the runners reappeared they jumped fences seven and eight before they turned into the home straight to face fences nine and ten before going out onto their second circuit.

Master Tammy went onto win the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham was he was among a host of good horses that won over this course. That prolific Point-to-Point winner Sunarise made his West Midland debut at the Gloucestershire venue after a string of victories in the West Country.

UPLEADON
1967 - 1979

With the demise of Bushley Park in 1966 the Ledbury transferred their meeting to land partly owned by Walter Biddlecombe (father of Terry) at Upper House Farm Upleadon.

The course was relatively flat with the runners facing almost two complete circuits before finishing up a chute in the centre of the course.

The finishing angle caused controversy on several occasions. One that stands out was when a 33-1 outsider called Richmede ridden by a certain Nigel Twiston Davies and owned by local farmer Reg Fellows was given the verdict over the hot favourite Water Sport. The following quote is taken from the 1979 Yearbook "Judge made an unforgivable bloomer in awarding him this race".

We are all entitled to our opinions but having been there that day I think that judgement is rather harsh. Judges can get things wrong but despite our best efforts only ONE PERSON HAS A PERFECT VIEW OF THE FINISH.

The finishing angle at Upleadon was notoriously deceptive with the runners racing up a chute in the centre of the course. Most of the people who disagreed with the verdict that day were so far away from the finish they were in no position to voice an opinion.

Upleadon is probably best described as oval in shape with the runners starting at a slight angle to the course proper, which they joined, on jumping the first fence.

This was closely followed by the second fence and a left hand turn to take fence three which was adjacent to the car park, the field then raced down a slight slope before the ground flattened out and they took fences four, five and six.

This was followed by a left-hand turn to fence seven and another left-hand turn before they met fence eight. The first fence then became fence nine and the runners went out to complete their second circuit.

Fence nine became seventeen on the second circuit and horses still fighting out the finish turned into a chute straight after the seventeenth fence to take the final obstacle and the run to the finish.

Some great horses ran over this course. These included Frozen Dawn who made her debut in the Ledbury Members in 1970. She returned to the course a few weeks later and beat a top class field in the Mens Open where her chief market rival Touch of Tammy was tragically destroyed. Pennyalina’s win over Bright Willow a few years earlier was another high spot in the courses history.

KNIGHTWICK
1951 – 1981
Note: - There was a course at Lulsley, near Knightwick, which was used in 1946 and again between 1948-1950

Leave Worcester and turn right at Knightfords Bridge on the A44 and you come to The Talbot at Knightwick (www.the-talbot.co.uk) nestling by the side of the River Teme. Hidden about a mile down the lane by the side of this well-known local hostelry was Horsham Point-to-Point course.

The course was last used in April 1981, but my recollections come from many years earlier. I always remember the first time I climbed the hill above the finish (which at that time appeared to have Everest like proportions), while it obviously made a lasting impression on one of our well-known Lady Trainers who recalls the "loos in the woods".

The course was roughly triangular in shape and was bounded on one side by the River Teme. It's natural grandstand provided a perfect view of the whole course.

The runners started in the straight by the river and had a fairly long run to the first fence before they crossed a track and made a sharp left hand turn into the home straight where they faced fence two. The next fence was at the end of the home straight and the runners took another left hand turn and went over the track by Lower Horsham to meet fence four.

The field then had to negotiate fences five and six in a fairly narrow section of the course before they took a fairly easy left hand turn to come back down by the riverside where they were faced with fences seven and eight and back past the start.

Fence 1 and 2 became numbers 9 and 17 and 10 and 18 respectively and the runners were then faced with a long run to the post.

Some Man won the Horse and Hound Cup in 1970 but three years earlier had been seen in more modest surroundings at this venue when winning the Members Race.

Top Class Ladies Horse Tawny Tam ridden by Pat Kerby was another early memory from this course, while you would have to go a long way to beat the race where Bright Willow finished in front of Sally Furlong and Hill House in 1971.

The Clifton-on-Teme meeting subsequently moved to Upper Sapey and it earnt the following praise from Mackenzie and Selby in their 1995 Annual.

"Putting a continuously updated list of runners outside the Secretarys Tent is an excellent idea that other Hunts would do well to copy". It is a feather in the cap of this small hunt that most meetings now follow their example.

SPRINGHILL
1934 - 1994

Racing took place at Springhill for a 60-year period at this venue high on the Cotswold escarpment above Broadway where racing was held by kind permission of the Hannay family who own the Springhill Estate.

The course served the North Cotswold well but without wishing to be to disparaging the course left something to be desired regarding viewing and several different layouts were tried to resolve this problem.

Crowds were probably on the small side when the course was first opened, but as Point-to-Pointing became more popular the North Cotswold meeting on Easter Monday used to attract vast crowds and at ground level it was almost impossible to get a good view of the final three fences.

In an era where we are governed by too many Health and Safety regulations I am not sure that it would have survived. The runners were funnelled through cars parked on either side of the course over the final three fences and there was a very sharp bend just before the last. It was replaced by Paxford in 1997.

I had not realised until I found a 1965 racecard that the runners started in the centre of the course and did two complete circuits before finishing in a chute up towards the paddock. By 1968 the start in the centre of the course had been dispensenced with and the runners started between the 16-17 th fences.

The course endured a period of stability with the runners starting at the bottom of the hill where they took a single fence before a line of four fences, which were adjacent to the Snowshill/Stow road.

This was followed by a single fence half way along Buckle Street and then two more fences sited close together by the parking area. There was then a sharp right hand turn to the final obstacle and a short run to the winning post. The runners then had a long downhill run before they went out onto the second circuit.

In 1987 the start was brought back towards the paddock area, which increased the distance of the races and meant that the runners had 20 fences to contend with.

In another incident from my younger days, I remember going to the North Cotswold meeting on a motor cycle on a beautiful spring day in April 1965.

It was shirtsleeve weather and everything was OK until the runners for the last race the Adjacent Hunts Farmers entered the paddock. The sky suddenly turned black and approximately three inches of snow was deposited on the track and the last race had to be abandoned. The phrase like a drowned rat did not do this scenario justice.

Speaking to the Clerk of the Scales Charlie Warren many years later he was able to recall that David Tatlow rode Highland Fancy into the weighing in tent to avoid the worst of the storm.

Springhill was undoubtedly a tricky course to ride so it was not surprising that both David Tatlow and Pat Tollitt who were both superb jockeys should have brilliant records at this meeting. Harry Wheeler was another rider who was very hard to beat at this venue, while Dick Baimbridge was always the trainer to follow.

Open Maiden Races are now a feature of every Point-to-Point run in Great Britain. This type of race was a feature of this meeting during the 1960’s and 1970’s and was very well supported. I cannot recall any other hunt staging a race of this type at that time.

THE AUTHOR OF THIS ARTICLE IS EXTREMELY GRATEFUL FOR THE ASSISTANCE PROVIDED IN THE COMPILATION OF THIS ARTICLE BY

HENRY FRANKLIN, JOHN SAVILLE & CHRIS PITT