Richard Collinson, last season’s leading East Anglian jockey, made a surprise and successful return to the saddle when steering the odds-on favourite Bold Gesture (pictured) to victory in the opening race at the North Norfolk Harriers meeting at Higham.
Dicky originally announced his retirement from race-riding at the end of last season but resumed the very successful past partnership as stable jockey with trainer Andrew Pennock with this Open Maiden winner. In the eyes of the trainer "the door was never closed", as Pennock and Collinson have acknowledged mutual respect for each other, and as the season progresses, the fruits of this combination will become evident by their success rate. In a post-race interview, Collinson confirmed that not only was Higham his favourite course but also Bold Gesture was a particular favourite of the trainer as well. So the comeback, which they had planned together, had been delivered.
Bold Gesture, before joining the current stable, had seven runs for Gordon Elliott and shown definite promise with his run at Cottenham, when finishing second over two- and-a-half miles at the end of December. His owner, George Braithwaite, farms adjacent to the Higham course and there was quite a cheer from locals at the subsequent prize-giving. Bold Gesture and Collinson took the lead from the 'off' and were briefly challenged by Hop 'n Skip as they left the woodside, but his rival hung violently right as they rounded the final bend leaving the pairing to win by nine lengths. Charlie Marshall, who rode the runner-up, reported that his mount appeared to lose confidence after jumping the last open ditch and persisted in hanging badly from that point.
The possibility of a first-and-last-race double for the owner/trainer/jockey partnership disappeared when their representative Laser Beam failed to show his normal zest for racing and was also hanging right after challenging for the lead, so Collinson decide to pull his mount up. The winner of the Conditions race was Net d'Ecosse, who was, in turn, completing a double for trainer James Owen and jockey Rupert Stearn. The winner was positively ridden by Stearn and they were never in danger once the challenge of odds-on favourite Laser Beam disappeared.
Owen and Stearn had teamed-up earlier in the Men's Open, when Just Cause supplemented his recent Ampton success with a very comfortable victory, by a distance, from his five rivals. Winning owner Simon Stearn stepped forward to collect the new trophy on offer here, namely 'The Broken Eagle Memorial Trophy' which had been commissioned by the Exelbys in honour of their exceptional and much –missed star. Broken Eagle won eight out of nine starts at Higham, with the only blemish occurring when being brought down. Lawney Hill, wife of Broken Eagles's trainer Alan Hill, was on hand to present the trophy, on behalf of the Exelbys, to winning connections. Victorious jockey Rupert Stearn then paid a generous and most apt compliment in stating that although Just Cause had won comfortably today, they would have found it impossible to match the truly magnificent Broken Eagle around the Higham circuit.
Other highlights of an interesting afternoon's racing saw two young jockeys, Murray Dodd and Alex Knight, record their first career wins, and both coincidentally work for the professional stable of Dan Skelton. They will always look back on this memorable January day at Higham.
Born in Scotland, nineteen year old Dodd was having only his third career ride on Workbench, in the Novice Rider's event and the pairing confidently forced the pace as the runners commenced their final circuit. With an exceptional jumping performance they finished way ahead of their rivals. He would have had his riding instructions from owner/ trainer Nick Pearce who enjoyed many successful days here at Higham, in the past, but as Murray explained " Workbench was clearly enjoying himself so I elected to let him take up the running and it paid off."
In the Ladies' Open, Alex Knight and Knockedoutloaded gave a bold, front-running display and were left clear two fences from home after favourite Top Smart had unseated Izzie Marshall. However, they still had to combat a fast-finishing Brackloon High but held on by a diminishing half a length. Twenty-year-old Alex was fully aware of the challenges behind her but "hoped I was going to hold on". Knockedoutloaded was bought privately from Nigel Padfield last summer, having won six races for him and had been beaten by Ravished at Cottenham at the end of December. Although beaten by 18 lengths, that was their first outing together and Alex will have plenty of fun in Ladies' Opens as the season progresses.
The Restricted saw trainer Alan Hill extend his record of Higham winners when Normofthenorth and Charlie Marshall made light work of the opposition in fairly comfortable fashion. This success was Charlie's second winner of the season and he is thankful for and making the most of the opportunities he is being afforded.
The Higham course was in excellent condition and the fences looked exceptional. A credit to the newly appointed Clerk of the Course Bill Gilchrist and his team.