05 May 2009 Scene & Heard: Pendle Forest & Craven - Heslaker
by Carolyn Tanner
The consistent Flashy Boy, who has never finished out of the frame in his three seasons with the Kinsey family, almost had his first success of the campaign foiled by no less than his trainer, rider Hannah Burton's brother Will Kinsey.
Will's shouts of encouragement, together with some arm-waving, caused the little chestnut to veer away to the right running down the hill to the final fence, but Hannah was able to straighten him up in good time and disaster was averted.
"He felt so well, and he was spooking at all the bales [marking the bends] on the way round," reported Hannah, whose mount had the last word by jinking just past the line and dumping his rider onto the muddiest patch of ground on the well-watered course.
Hannah has decided to give more time to her interior design business after this season, and she is looking to lease Flashy Boy, whose reliable jumping marks him out as an ideal ride for a novice, to stay in the yard.
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Hannah's husband Richard had opted to ride at Cold Harbour, so it was Guy Brewer who picked up a winning spare in the Confined on Noble Persian. It was a welcome change of fortune for trainer Gary Hanmer, who has endured a wretched season due to his horses being badly dehydrated all year.
Among the winner's delighted connections was Tiggy Hankey, eight-year-old daughter of owners Rob and Jo, who had cheered Noble Persian home. "I'll have a sore throat by the end of the day," she announced.
Thanks to Guy's enterprising ride - "I had a master tactician giving me instructions," he grinned - Noble Persian never saw a rival, although there was a heart-stopping moment when a mistake at the last allowed the odds-on Impact Zone, on whom Thomas Greenall had had to contend with a slipping saddle at one stage, to close the gap.
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The previous evening Guy had won the prestigious Heart Of All England Hunter Chase at Hexham on Eliza Doalott, whose trainer Maxine Stirk was jointly responsible, with owner-rider Alison Pocklington, for the winner of the Novice Riders' contest, the front-running Texas Ranger. "I had two rides in 2005 on unsuitable horses and then found out I was pregnant so haven't ridden again until this year," said Alison, whose children are now three-and-a-half and two.
"Alison didn't want to go in this race - she wanted to retire when she won the Members' race at the Bedale," laughed Texas Ranger's former rider Jo Foster, who admitted to bullying Alison into buying the 11-year-old.
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Jo herself enjoyed a successful day, the second leg of her double, Well Worthy in the Maiden, bringing up her 50th career victory. Well Worthy is trained by Jo's father Peter for the Yorkshire Point-to-Point Club, but "It was an afterthought to put him in the syndicate's name," said Jo, who whips in to the Pendle and bought him because he looked like a good hunter and reminded her of Sandy Gold, who ran for her as recently as last season.
Well Worthy, who was equipped with cheekpieces for the first time, stands 17.2, so it was perhaps no surprise that when the Pony Club members visited Jo's yard, they were unable to get on him!
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Jo had earlier won a farcical Hunt race on Copper Bay, who was left to jump round alone after his sole rival Four Eagles unseated at the eighth. It was the fourth occasion on which Jo had landed the prize, which unfortunately continues to be an uncompetitive contest each year, with very few runners.
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Thomas Greenall's mount Special Portrait had to give best to Well Worthy in the Maiden, but he kept his championship hopes very much alive with the now almost obligatory double. It was fitting that the Yorkshire area's most valuable race, the Restricted Championship, with £1,000 added prize money, should be won by My Old Piano, as owner Tom Bannister is not only Clerk of the Course at Heslaker but was also responsible for enlisting Sovereign Health Care as the generous race sponsors.
"He's been laid out for this race ever since Tom found the sponsors," said trainer David Easterby, who related that My Old Piano had recently dropped Oliver Greenall at the top of the gallops but neglected to mention, until reminded by the latter, that he had fallen off his own mount at the same time!
"He doesn't really stay, and it was only his class that got him through," opined Thomas of the seven-year-old. "We don't think he'll get the trip at Stratford [in the pointtopoint.co.uk John Corbet Cup] because the opposition will be much stronger."
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35 minutes later trainer and jockey combined again to take the Men's Open with Pristine Condition who, like My Old Piano, was scoring for the fifth time. Where Thomas was concerned, David's father Mick was on hand with to offer his opinion, although of course he would not dream of acting on his own advice. "You don't want to come first because then everyone expects you to do it again next year," Mick said with a straight face. "It's much better to come second........"
