My school friends never understood why I found some racehorses as captivating as footballers. Nijinsky, then Mill Reef and Brigadier Gerard, had pierced the mist inside my head’s fan zone and then jump racing took me on a journey which seems to have no end.
This article first appeared in the Racing Post on Friday 6th January.
The catalyst was the 1973 Cheltenham Gold Cup, for the finish was thrilling and weeks earlier I had been gifted shoes from the first three horses, The Dikler, Pendil and Charlie Potheen. Their trainers had sent me these plates after I had written begging letters, signing off with my name followed by (age 14).
Race forward to 2022 and Pendil’s name resurfaced alongside a four-year-old pointer named Il Pino, who made an impressive winning debut last month at Chaddesley Corbett for owners The Pendil Partnership, headed by Rupert Swallow. Hang on a minute, I thought, didn’t a Cynthia Swallow own Pendil? There must be a link.
On New Year’s Day I met the link, namely her son Rupert (holding silver cup with wife Dee, Will Biddick and his son Archie, plus former jockey Kevin Jones - representing the sponsor - at the trophy presentation) who lives in Windsor. Our rendezvous came at Larkhill after his second pointer had matched the first, although Regatta De Blanc, a mare who turned five a few hours earlier, won an 18-runner race more easily than Il Pino.
Regatta De Blanc (Will Biddick) makes a winning debut at Larkhill
A more enthusiastic newcomer to point-to-pointing than Swallow would be hard to imagine. He is loving his first steps on the journey as much as I did when his mum’s horse ignited my passion.
He took the plunge in mid-afternoon on March 19, 2021, having watched Porlock Bay win Cheltenham’s Festival Hunters’ Chase. As trainer Will Biddick was lifting the enormous trophy, Swallow sent him an email saying he would like to meet up. Biddick asked bloodstock agent Ed Bailey to gauge Swallow’s ambitions and the go-between was in no doubt after they met at Doncaster Sales.
The trio subsequently went to Goffs Land Rover Sale in Ireland and bought two three-year-old stores, who, having been named Il Pino and Regatta De Blanc and shown an abundance of potential, are destined to carry The Pendil Partnership’s colours from Paul Nicholls’ yard. Another store was sourced last summer, has been named Jubilee Alpha, and could run this spring from Biddick’s stable.
Swallow has owned jumpers and Flat horses, but explaining why he is trying point-to-pointing, he said: “To give me an education. I wanted to start right at the bottom – I’m treating this as a university of racing. I love the whole vibe and atmosphere of this sport.”
