10 May 2011 Report: Granta Harriers - Higham
by James Crispe
After the lows of Easter Monday and the May Bank Holiday, when the dry weather decimated racing, the East Anglian Point-To-Point season ended on a high note at Higham on Saturday with a thoroughly enjoyable Granta Harriers fixture.
Clerk of the Course Jeffrey Bowles and his team saved the meeting with a well-organised watering programme that meant that the track was irrigated throughout Friday night in order to provide a firm but safe racing surface
The new mid-afternoon start time of 4pm was also a qualified success, with a small but enthusiastic crowd in attendance. There was certainly a happy ‘end of term' feel to the day.
The undoubted star of the evening - and of the whole season - was 19-year-old jockey Gina Andrews, from Lilley in Hertfordshire, who took her tally for the campaign to 22 and is assured of becoming the first East Anglian-qualified National Lady Riders Champion since Lucy Gibbon (née King) 30 years earlier.
Andrews began her afternoon at Kingston Blount Point-To-Point course in Oxfordshire, where she rode Batalov, who is owned by Anthony Howland-Jackson, from Wakes Colne, to victory in the Restricted Race.
She then jumped into a light aircraft, piloted by former top jockey Tim Moore, before landing at the farm of another former top local rider, George Cooper, at Raydon, just a few miles from Higham.
She comfortably made it to the course in time to guide Mountain Emperor to an easy win in the Club Members Race and later completed a double on the card, and treble on the day, aboard Pointing debutant Arniecoco in the Maiden Race.
Mountain Emperor is trained at Chediston in Suffolk by John Ibbott, who has also enjoyed a tremendous season - this success was his seventh victory from just two horses.
He was narrowly denied an eighth 90 minutes later when Gina's only other ride, Finnish Melody, came up a head short of Leatherback in a thrilling two-runner race for the Ladies Open.
Leatherback was ridden by Louise Allan, from Newmarket, and is trained at Ampton, near Bury St Edmunds, by Joe Turner.
Leatherback had previously won at this course on Easter Saturday and, just like on that day, was joined in the winner's enclosure by two stablemates, Basic Fact, winner of the Confined, and Parrain, who took the Mens Open. The trio took the Turner yard's total for the year to 17 triumphs. The latter pair were ridden by Turner's 25-year-old grandson, Ed, giving him a first ever double in the saddle.
Finally, the Restricted Race went to the Leicestershire raider, Mirage Prince, who was the 8-1 outsider of the five-runner field.
