Octogenarian point-to-point owner Derek Malam has postponed plans to retire from the sport after deciding to stay in for another year.
His outstanding horse Gracchus De Balme, winner of last season’s Randox Foxhunters’ Chase at Aintree and the Pertemps Champion Hunters’ Chase at Stratford, has caused the rethink, with Malam eyeing a second attempt on those two landmark races.
After the Stratford race Cheshire-based Malam (pictured above) stated that after some 40 years of ownership and 120 winners he was planning to finish and sell nine-year-old Gracchus De Balme, but today he said a rethink had taken place.
“We’re going to keep going for another season,” he said. “Hopefully he will go back to Stratford again and go for other similar races – and then I’ll retire. He’s just a very good horse as we saw with the way he jumped around Aintree and Stratford.”
Gracchus De Balme (Huw Edwards) is out on his own when winning at Stratford's evening hunters' chase meeting
Joe O’Shea trains Gracchus De Balme for Malam and also Sabre Rattling, an eight-year-old who finished second at Tabley on his latest start in May 2024, but missed last season.
Malam said: “Joe and I have a working relationship – he trains just five minutes from where I live and he has five or six very good horses in his yard.
“I’m looking forward to next season.”