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Trainer Nick Kent has always held a high opinion of Farmer Frank, and his patience, and that of owner Roger Jackson, looked to be paying off when the progressive youngster landed the Mens Open in the hands of Steve Magee.

Hunter Chases are now Farmer Frank's target. "He's stronger this year, which is why he saw out the trip so well," Nick explained, "but he's got so much speed that we may drop him to 2 ½ miles. His jumping's so accurate, and he bounces off quick ground. He pulls my arms out at home. He goes out on his own because he likes to be the boss - he's the boss of me, anyway!"

Steve, who partnered Farmer Frank to his first two victories in 2008, is now a qualified pharmacist based in Ireland, and had flown over for this meeting when Simon Walker declared himself unavailable through injury, having been told that a fall could put him out of action for another month. "These flat jockeys," mocked Nick. "The slightest thing and they're crying off! Simon said there was no way he wasn't getting back on Farmer Frank, but we'll have to see - after all, Steve does still claim 3lbs!"

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"I might sleep tonight. I don't sleep when he's running." Nick Kent confesses to nerves when his stable star is due to run.

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"Me waffling a load of c**p won't tell you any more." Dickie Barrett confines himself to an understated "Very nice" after the impressive Three Chords, trained by Gerald Bailey, had romped home in the Restricted.

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Three Chords runs in the colours of Cyndy Aldridge, who is doing her bit to support the Royal Mail. Joint-owner Rob Juleff's business requires him to live abroad for three years, dividing his time between Australia and Japan, so Cyndy is keeping him in touch by sending photographs, racecards and dvds. "It was the middle of the night in Australia when I rang him after Higham [where Three Chords won his Maiden]," she laughed, "so I'm about to get him out of bed again."

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Dickie Barrett's extremely tender handling of Karintino, who finished like a train from a long way off the pace to take third in the first Maiden, did not go unnoticed by some onlookers, one of whom was heard to remark "Well, he did put it in the race, but rather late."

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Jack Watson replaced his sister Hannah, who was still grounded following her Horseheath fall, in the Maiden Division One on Rosemary Gasson's Elite Beneficial and proved an able deputy, the five-year-old landing the spoils after the leader Attrapeur had stopped to nothing on the run-in.

Jack had sat on Elite Beneficial for the first time two days earlier, and to the surprise of both Rosemary and Hannah had liked him straight away. "We thought he was a big slow boat - he should be articulated because he's very long," was his owner's summing-up, while Hannah admitted he was her least favourite ride in the yard, so much so that she told her brother "If he goes well for you, you can keep him."

Elite Beneficial was bought by Rosemary from Sean Doyle in Ireland, and is related to Love In The Air, who ran in the Gasson colours a few times in the past couple of seasons.

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Division Two went to Will Telfer on Pauline Harkin's Unoitmakessense, a cheap purchase on account of his inability to produce a safe round of jumping. "I was going to give up on him," Pauline admitted. "We've done so much ground work with him, and worked so hard on his jumping - he was absolutely hopeless." Unoitmakessense, who was described by Will as "having a serious engine," had been schooled on the morning of the meeting by Charlie Poste - "A decent winner at Warwick yesterday and then this!" laughed Pauline.

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Will is still awaiting the arrival of his rider's certificate from the PPA, so is currently having to go through the procedure of proving his validity to ride at every meeting he attends.

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Mad Victor, one of those who had travelled to Horseheath a fortnight earlier but stayed on his lorry due to the ground conditions, had little more than an exercise canter to win the Ladies' Open under Sue Sharratt. "I wish they were all like that," smiled Sue, who had been booked when Claire Allen decided to take three rides at Barbury (none of which was placed).

Mad Victor, who likes really soft ground, gets corns if his shoes are left on for more than a couple of days, "So those are coming off as soon as we get home," said Paul Jones, partner of the chestnut's trainer Sue Taylor.

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With Matt Mackley not yet being granted a licence, Stuart Morris was booked in the middle of the week to take the reins on Robert Crosby's Super Lord, who won the Club Members' race. "He's some lepper," said Stuart, which is hardly surprising for a horse whose most recent run was in Czechoslovakia's Velka Pardubicka, in which he finished seventh after blowing up half a mile from home. His target now is the cross-country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

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Fresh Fruit, despite having to be led in and taking time to warm to her task, was an easy winner of the Intermediate for Richard Burton, who had opted for this meeting over the other two at which he could have ridden.

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The announcer appeared to be the last person on the course to be kept up to speed with the sequence of events. On more than one occasion he gave the instruction "Jockeys out!" somewhat belatedly, the riders having already mounted, while his "Jockeys up!" tended to be broadcast after the horses had long left the paddock and were arriving at the start.

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A welcome spectator at the meeting was Sarah Phizacklea, who only two days earlier had suffered an horrific fall at Bangor, where Another River had somersaulted and rolled on top of her. Happily, what looked to be serious damage was confined to a broken bone in her leg, and Sarah, who discharged herself from hospital the same evening, was showing plenty of stamina on her crutches.

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