29 December 2009 Report: Cambridgeshire Harriers Hunt Club - Cottenham
by James Crispe
START ROYAL: a thrilling winner of the opening contest
photo: Steve Hunt
The weather relented in the nick of time to allow the Cambridgeshire Harriers Hunt Club Point-To-Point to go ahead at Cottenham.
The recent cold snap had dumped five inches of snow on the course and, although most of this had disappeared before race day, shovels were required to dispose of the drifts which had accumulated to depths of 18 inches around the fences in the home straight.
That, however, was not the last of the weather worries for course officials. A frost came down just hours before the action was set to start, meaning that the first of seven races was put back by an hour to allow the sun to melt it away.
After all this drama, a healthy crowd was treated to more thrills at the end of this curtain-raising event as the hot favourite, Buckinghamshire-trained Start Royal, held off the late thrust of Where's My Baby by a short head.
Where's My Baby was a first ride back for his trainer, David Kemp, from Kilverstone near Thetford, since he broke both his cheekbones in a fall in March.
The highlight from an East Anglian perspective came in the Novice Riders race, as 17-year-old Newmarket-based Jack Quinlan landed his first ever steeplechasing success aboard The Railway Man.
Quinlan, whose uncle Mick Quinlan has trained winners at Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival, earned his spurs in pony racing, partnering a total of 11 winners before graduating to take his first ride over obstacles on The Railway Man, trained by his mother Jo. "It's a bit more exhilarating than riding ponies," an excited Quinlan announced afterwards.
Otherwise, the closest that the East Anglians came to having a winner on a card dominated by foreign invaders was in the feature race, the Mens Open, part of the Brightwells Insurance Order of Excellence.
Forget The Ref, who is trained at Wretham in Norfolk by Robert Abrey, produced a career best to overcome some hairy jumping and take second, finding the Worcestershire-trained Cedrus Libani, who made all the running and himself survived a scare at the second last fence, four lengths too strong.
The man happiest that racing was able to beat the weather was Stratford-Upon-Avon handler Michael Gates; he was barely able to keep a lid on his exultation after Crack At Dawn and Mr Johnson had doubled his career tally as a trainer by landing both Maiden races.
The Ladies Open, like the Mens an hour earlier, saw a repeat of the result from the December 6th meeting here, with Big Moment coming out on top after another clash with Petit Lord.
Trained in Hampshire by Jenny Gordon, he was given a tough battle by Petit Lord but eventually prevailed by a length-and-a-half.
