06 January 2010 Whitcliffe Open Day a great success
by Charlotte Brader
About 50 people, including top Point-to-Point trainers and jockeys, braved the weather and made the journey to Whitcliffe Grange to have a sneak preview of Britain's newest Point-to-Point course.
There was a lot of positive feedback and some very good points were made about the course, which were taken on board by the organising committee. The team are working very hard to have the course ready for the West of Yore meeting on Sunday 31st January.
Whitcliffe Grange is a right-handed track one-and-a-quarter miles in circumference, largely flat but with a gradual climb up most of the back straight. There will be seven fences on the course - six plain and one open ditch. It is a good viewing course with a backdrop of Ripon Cathedral and the Cleveland Hills in the far distance.
It was for many years the grass gallop of the late Peter Calver and after he passed away was used for a few years as a satellite yard by Mark Johnston before he expanded in Middleham.
It's potential as a Point-to-Point course was first recognised in the spring of last year by Anthony Stirk when his wife Maxine used the gallop for her Pointers. He has taken on the responsibility for developing the course. It will be the country's only new course for the current season and will host two fixtures - the West of Yore, sponsored by Kettlewell Fuels, on Sunday January 31st and the Badsworth & Bramham Moor on Saturday March 27th.
This will be the West of Yore's first fixture since 2005 when it was forced to abandon its original site due to poor ground, while the Badsworth & Bramham Moor will be returning much closer to its own country after holding its meeting at John Wade's Mordon site in County Durham for the last few years.
The 45-50 people who turned up last Sunday praised the compactness of the course and were confident that though untried, horses would take to it and run safely. One tightish bend at the bottom of the home straight suggests jockeys and horses will have more than enough to think about.
Horse racing in the city of Ripon dates back more the 300 years, however the West of Yore Point-to-Point will be the first jump meeting to be held in the city since April 1901!
