Southdown &
Eridge
Godstone
Sunday 11th April 2010
by Simon
McInnes
For this course and this time of the season
the number of runners was just about par, but there seemed to be
one or two late decisions in the races towards the end of the card,
as a sneaky peek at the decs blackboard after race one saw things
looking a little ominous.
Going: Not displayed - looked to be good or
perhaps a bit faster
Race 1: Bewl Water
Open Maiden
1: Behind The Scenes 2: Tabloid 3: Red In Bed
Winner owned: Ms C O'Byrne, trained: Christine McCarthy, ridden:
Philip Hall
The race was won by a refugee from Rules
making his debut in points, and the fact that Behind The Scenes is
trained at the course cannot have done his prospects any harm
either (with his snippets of promise having been on heavy in
Ireland, the condition of his home ground was a different matter
entirely). The winner deserves a three length head start per race
for being well named: By Presenting, out of Run For Cover. From the
fourth last it was shaping up to be an exciting race as Behind The
Scenes and Rio Novo, who was the paddock pick, went head to head.
Rio Novo fell at the second last, when likely to get the worst of
the argument, but he clearly has more ability than form of PPF
suggests. That departure left Behind The Scenes miles clear of
Tabloid, who himself had been on a run of non-completions and thus
can be considered to have taken a step forward simply by getting
round. In contrast, Red In Bed keeps finishing but rarely in
threatening manner.
Race 2: Batcheller
Thacker Restricted
1: Orient Legend 2: Florence Mary 3: Mr Moneymatters
Winner owned: P Riddle & P Clayton, trained: Jenny Pidgeon,
ridden: Philip York
The progressing Orient Legend
(football fans will chuckle at the oxymoron) picked up his second
win of the season, with slightly less ease than seemed likely. He
tried to kick clear of Florence Mary four out, and when she made a
mistake at the next, it appeared that the job had been done. But
even if she is not the quickest thing on four legs, nobody can
criticise Florence Mary's effort so far and Orient Legend just had
to be kept up to his work to ensure that the edge was maintained.
One of the possible dangers, Tommy Thunder, fell at the fourth, and
after he hampered another possible threat, Young Emma, she was
never really travelling with any degree of conviction and
eventually pulled up. This left some of the lesser lights to battle
out the minor honours, and Mr Moneymatters, who has just begun
completing races after a run of pulled ups, lasted better than Just
Jane, whose form is moving in the opposite direction. That is the
trouble with the south-east - the pool of horses is quite small and
some do the exact opposite of those they perceive to be their
enemies just to be bloody-minded.
Race 3: Highfield Farm
Ladies Open
1: Carryonharry 2: Leatherback
Winner owned: Mrs H Silk & RK Purkis, trained: Emma Leppard,
ridden: Cynthia Haydon
Only two turned out, and
Carryonharry, about whom all compliments that can be given ran out
a couple of years ago, gained win number twenty. Just. The pair
mostly travelled around head to to head, but having kicked on
approaching three out, Carryonharry had that couple of lengths or
so edge that is normally enough of a lead, but Leatherback rallied
really well, and only went down by neck in the end. Whilst Godstone
regulars will not have had a sense that the run-in would be long
enough for Leatherback, there was a definite sense of apprehension
amongst the crowd that the great grey show-off might be on the
verge of a very rare second loss in a row.
Race 4: Tony Fountain
& Nick Boyle Men's Open
1: Bee An Bee 2: Master T 3: Reflex Blue
Winner owned: David Robinson, trained & ridden: Stuart
Robinson
You never know when a surprise is going to
thrown at you, but this was the one for the day. Not the result,
but that the money came for the unreliable Master T, whose biggest
negative was that he won last time, and has some sort of allergy to
being consistent. When Bee An Bee was beaten at this track last
season, he was cleverly stalked and beaten for late pace. Master T
usually sneaks his wins that way, but was so keen that he ended up
leading at the fourth, and was reeled in and cast aside by Bee An
Bee at the thirteenth, with the stinger gaining his eleventh
pointing win. Master T, winner of this last year, maintained his
supremacy over Reflex Blue, but he is a law unto himself, and those
that sneaked in and took the evens on the winner will have a
deserved sense of smugness about them.
Race 5: Dodson &
Horrell PPORA Club Members, Novice Riders
1: Victree 2: Theatre Knight 3: Basic Fact
Winner owned & trained: Linda Cannon, ridden: Tom
Cannon
Having won an open and then only been narrowly
pipped in a hunter chase at Towcester, Victree was a warm favourite
for this, and duly delivered the expected victory. Over the years
he has not been a hugely prolific winner and there were spells in
this race where he was not travelling as sweetly as might have been
hoped for by those who were on at a short price, but the final
margin was twelve lengths, and he will be hard to beat at this
level. Basic Fact was the only one to make a race of it with
Victree, but it found him out turning for home, and he was pipped
for second on the line thanks to Tom Garner showing plenty of
persistence on Theatre Knight when the horse did not seem as
totally convinced as his youthful rider of the wisdom of what they
were doing. Having run well when finally completing at Penshurst
last time, Latalanta found this better opposition harder to keep
tabs on.
Race 6: Robert Wilkins
CA Club Members
1: Brigadier Du Bois 2: High Toby 3: Lillie Lou
Winner owned & trained: John M Bentley, ridden: Ben
Bentley
Here we enjoyed the complete reversal of the
Master T theory, as the equally reluctant hero Brigadier Du Bois
did manage to win his second race in a row, but the betting had
been more dismissive of him. He hit the front four from home,
overtaking High Toby as that horse came under pressure. For many
other horses, this would have been the cue for cruise home enjoying
the accolades, but The Brigadier does not work that way, and he did
not really extend his lead until High Toby made an error at the
second last. Lillie Lou has not yet sparkled this year, having
missed 2009, but ran a bit better today, and could be building up
to going out on a high note. The progressive and suddenly handy
looking Little Legend was still leading when pulled up and
dismounted going up the hill to the thirteenth.
