I popped to see them at the lorry and noted how quietly Melinda was stood whilst tied up. Some years ago we took her full brother, Meadowland Tom, to Lampeter races (albeit at a different location) for his first maiden and he too stood quietly, watching the world go by. But then, he was quiet at home, whereas Melinda spends most of her time eyeballing everything and stretching her neck as high as it will go, imitating a giraffe. She ran in the second qualifier, and although she paced for the full mile, she struggled to keep up with the pack and her efforts looked laboured. Having spoken to The Boss since Sunday he advised that she didn’t look or feel comfortable for the whole journey. This will no doubt be directly linked to the injury she sustained as a yearling when she got cast, however I think the team are all agreed that it was better to try her and see, than assume she couldn’t pace and race and get rid of her.
Hamish was out next, drawn four, and managed to tuck in on the rail in third for much of the race before taking up the running down the back straight. I was impressed with his determination to get to the front, and he was just passed coming home so finished in third. It was a plucky run from the little horse, who has been there or thereabouts in several of his races this season. He’s got a lot to do though to be better than his younger brother who will be hitting the racing scene next year!
Julie then drove Jingo in a race that was stopped after a furlong due to fallers. Roy Wilson’s mount hit the deck swiftly followed by Roy himself, and was then ploughed into by Jed Strickland on Pais-Y-Pentre, as he had nowhere to go. He took a tumble, as did Mike Evans on Rhyds Dilemma. Pais-Y-Pentre then took herself off for the remainder of the track at full speed, driverless and ignoring the shouts and leaps from stewards and her owner, Wesley. She then headed straight for the paddock, where she was caught immediately and returned to her owner. The rules state that if a horse falls and the race is stopped, the horse cannot run again in the re-run. We were also under the impression that if a driver fell off, a horse couldn’t run in the re-run, however both Rhyds Dilemma and Pais-Y-Pentre lined up for the second attempt. The Boss has since confirmed that provided the drivers get themselves checked out immediately by the ambulance staff and are deemed to be fit to drive, they are allowed to run. Jingo had a tough race stuck two wide fighting for the lead with David Bevan on the inside, but it was Rhyds Dilemma that stormed past them both to win. Jingo, in similar style to Hamish, finished third.
Roy Wilson was checked over by the ambulance folk and stood down from the remainder of his drives that afternoon, which paved the way for Huw Thomas to step in and take the drive on Ffynnon, who has been knocking on the door in all staying races this season. Huw steered the horse to victory, much to the delight of his owner and trainer, however it was a bittersweet win as Roy would have loved to have taken the controls himself.
My family’s two year old raced in race 11 in a maiden, and let Bobby Sox and Shae Price make all the running from pole position. Daisy and Michael tracked the front two horses for three quarters of a mile, until Gary O’Grady made a move on Shae’s outside which forced him to go after his own horse with everything he had. Now I, nor Kayleigh (Michael’s girlfriend) couldn’t see the gap that Michael saw, but it must have been there because he slipped up the inside of Shae like a rabbit down a hole. Shae had committed the cardinal sin of racing – NEVER let a horse up your inside! Daisy cruised past them and came home without Michael having switched his whip forwards or pulling the ear plugs.
Ystwyth DT added another trophy to Trevor Morgans’ cabinet when he came off 30 yards in the final to win the Lloyds Chip Shop sponsored final in some style. He is another great advert for the stallion The Cammissioner (Hamish & Bongo’s sire).
Smarty and I took note of the final sponsor and headed back there for our supper, which was absolutely delicious. It’s a shame we’re not down that part of the country more often!
At the yard
I was greeted on Monday with the news that Mac had joined the yellow-rosette brigade at Pateley Bridge (somewhere in England) on the Sunday also, which is an improvement on his sixth place at Appleby the week before.
The Boss confirmed that following her run the previous day, it had been decided that Melinda would not continue with her racing career, so would be turned out, backed and sold on as a rider. With some injuries sustained to racehorses, they only present a problem when the horse is very close to peak race fitness, or under extreme pressure (i.e. racing), and don’t have any impact on the horse’s ability to pursue a career as a pleasure horse. I have made the same decision with my mare, who ran so badly at Lampeter that even someone as uncompetitive as me was a touch embarrassed!
The Boss took her shoes off and we turned her out with Maverick, whose boxrest has finally come to an end. That left us with Laddie, Hamish and Jingo in the stables. Mucking out has suddenly become a whole lot easier!
Hamish and Jingo are entered to run at Llanandras (Presteigne) on Sunday, and as the season winds down let’s hope that we can sneak a couple of wins before we pack up for the winter.
Over and out,
Sarah (#1 Groom)
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