30 March 2010 Landmarks: 20th March
by Carolyn Tanner
James Huxham, 20, opened his account on Saturday at his local track, Black Forest Lodge, when Peggy's Boy won the Novice Riders' Restricted.
Peggy's Boy was bought privately out of Jimmy and Nikki Frost's stable by James and his grandmother, Gill Sandercock. "He's a safe jumper who saves a bit for himself," was James's opinion of the eight-year-old, whose victory was also an initial training success for Jack Mathias.
James's job as a trainee farrier had to be put on hold when he broke his back in a fall at Bishops Court last season, and he is now considering the option of going to work in a racing yard with the eventual aim of following in the path trod by his cousin, top conditional jockey Nick Scholfield.
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There was a first winner also for Malcolm Harding, 18, who took the Novice Riders' race at Dunthrop on Saturday on Shady Hollow. It was just a fourth ride for Malcolm, who has leased Shady Hollow from Ray Barrow and John Irish, and who is in his second full season working for the horse's trainer Marie McGuinness, at whose yard he started helping out when he was 14.
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Reigning East Anglian champion Rupert Stearn recorded a half-century between the flags when Foulstons Ruler obliged in the Conditions race at High Easter on Saturday. It was on the same track that Rupert partnered his first winner, Imperial Mist, in 2002.
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Michael Ennis completed his first double at Friars Haugh on Saturday, taking the Hunt race on Ashtonmore and the Intermediate on Pas de Baratin. At 28 and in only his second season, Michael is a relatively late starter to the sport, having originally got himself "a proper job" (at his mother's insistence!) and become a joiner. He had always hankered to race-ride, though, as his father had before him, so despite setting up his own joinery business, "I was 25 when I thought ‘to hell with that'," he said, and he joined Ferdy Murphy's yard for a spell.
He is now based with George Foster, for whom he has ridden on the flat, and he is hoping to get his Category ‘B' licence in the near future. His car having died on him recently, he is also looking for a sponsor!
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Robbie Henderson, 20, was another to record a first double at the weekend, in his case at Larkhill on Saturday. Robbie, who has also been seen to advantage under Rules this season - in November he won the Badger Ales Chase at Wincanton on Ellerslie George - took the young horse Maiden on Fort View and the older horse Maiden on Irish Toast.
Robbie is currently stable amateur with Colin Tizzard, whose son Joe, he admits, has been a great help to him. He may turn conditional later this year, and is unlikely to encounter any weight problems, normally having to carry around 28lbs of lead to ride between the flags.
