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LUKE MORGAN: had plenty to smile about
photo: Alex Harris

"That's the way it should have worked last week," commented Luke Morgan after winning the Men's Open on Gavin Hamilton's Lord Who.

The partnership had looked to have their race won at Alnwick seven days earlier until Lord Who blundered Luke out of the saddle at the penultimate. The victory here was prophesied by Gavin and his wife Alison's two-and-a-half-year-old son James, who had announced that morning "Jockey not fall off!"

Both Gavin and Luke were in agreement that Lord Who jumped as well as he ever had done. "We were close to giving him away last year as a hunter," admitted Alison, "but he's never looked so well. He'll tell us when he's had enough.

The magnificent gold trophy awarded to the winner is surely one of the most valuable on the national Point-to-Point circuit. "It must be worth more than our house, horsebox and everything else put together," laughed Alison.

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It was an excellent day for the Hamiltons, as Gavin's father William's colours were carried to victory in the Ladies' Open by Lady Brig, trained by his daughter-in-law Wendy. With only two going to post, and Lady Brig not without her quirks, it was not a contest to which Kelly Bryson was looking forward with much relish, but the mare never put a foot wrong and she asserted on the run-in after Moment Of Madness, who lost little in defeat, had made all until then.

"I'm not usually as nervous as I was today," confessed Wendy, who is considering a run in the Grimthorpe Cup for Lady Brig, "although that may be a bit ambitious," she mused. This could be Lady Brig's final season, as she is likely to be put in foal later in the campaign.

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Luke Morgan had earlier won the first division of the young horse Maiden on Brother Mark, trained by Lucinda Broad for her father Michael. Luke was booked the previous evening when intended partner Chris Dawson was committed to riding one from his own yard.

"We bought him as a three-year-old four years ago from Ferdy Murphy, who said he would come good as a seven-year-old," said Lucinda. "He was a pretty dire jumper for a couple of years but I've hunted him hard and got him going over some big fences, so it's made all the difference."

Lucinda herself limped into the unsaddling enclosure, a legacy of the previous week when one of her charges had stood on her foot. "I missed all the racing as I spent the weekend in A&E," she said. The diagnosis was bad bruising but no broken bones.

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"The last spare Chris gave me was Hedchester." Luke must have thought twice about accepting the Dawson offer this time, having ended up in hospital when Hedchester went over backwards in the paddock with him.

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The Broads recorded their first double when Chris Dawson got Sendeed home in the older horse Maiden, but it was not the result they expected. Their more fancied runner was Thatsthereasonwhy, partnered by Chris's brother John, who was poised to challenge when he was brought down at the penultimate, leaving his rider rueing his luck - "I think I'd have won by several lengths," was his opinion.

Sendeed, a failure on the flat, was bought at Newmarket as a three-year-old. Lucinda qualified him for the finals of the Burghley Young Event horse in successive years, and he reached Intermediate standard, but although, in her words, "He was dynamite across country," he was not careful enough in the show-jumping phase and so the decision was taken to switch him to racing.

"He's the fastest horse we've got," she added, "but I don't think he's very fit. He's still carrying plenty of weight - he must be eating his straw bedding as I'm not giving him a massive amount!"

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Kelly Bryson recorded her second success of the day when Buckstruther, the only horse in Alistair Bell's yard, made every yard of the running to win the Restricted. After the chestnut had scored at Friars Haugh last month Kelly was due to lose the ride to Alistair's grandson Keiran Edgar, but the latter has now moved south to join the Pipe yard so is unlikely to be available. "And I'm not letting anyone else on him!" announced Kelly.

Alistair gave much of the credit for Buckstruther's form to Glen Martin, a former stable lad. "He's now a postie and finishes at two o'clock, so he comes to ride for me," Alistair explained.

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John Dawson took his turn in the winner's enclosure when Minstalad took the second young horse Maiden. "These colours have been good to me," smiled John, referring to the yellow and black hoops of George and Gill Sunter. It was the Sunters' Benwell who had provided John with both his initial success between the flags and his first Hunter Chase victory.

Minstalad, who was formerly with Geoff Oldroyd and was bought privately by George after a poor run at Sedgefield, is ridden at home by his trainer. "It's taken a long time to get him settled," said George, "but I can light my pipe off him now!"

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Seaview Lass, who won her Maiden at the corresponding meeting in 2008 but was sidelined the following year after tearing a ligament at the Fife later that season, won the area Club Members' race under Tristan Davidson, and in doing so reversed the previous week's placings with Old Rolla. Seaview Lass was acquired by owner-trainer Victor Thompson as part of a "Buy one, get one free" deal. "I bought her full brother [Knock Davron] at the sales and said I'd take her as well," Victor explained.

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George Reed's home-bred Ringa Bee, who has been a slow learner, said his owner, landed the Hunt race in the hands of Andrew Richardson. The dam line has been in the Reed family since 1889, and George is hoping that the next foal, who is due shortly, will be a filly. "We need one because we're running out of them," he stressed.

Andrew has ridden plenty of winners in the Reed colours, but Ringa Bee is the first one he has trained for George.

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The Tynedale's organisation was an object lesson to many other meetings. The course was extremely well-signed from the slip road off the A69 to the A68, and in addition there were signs directing motorists back to the main road when they left the course, the only exit being at the opposite end of the field from the entrance.

Every race went off exactly on time, despite being scheduled for only 30 minute intervals, and the St John Ambulance personnel, who happily had a quiet day, were all in position at the fences almost one hour in advance of the first race.

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