WALES AND WEST HARNESS RACING ASSOCIATION

HELD UNDER BRITISH HARNESS RACING CLUB RULES

 

Chairman: Stella Havard Burghope Farm Dinmore, Wellington, Herefordshire HR4 8ED Tel:01568 797403/07876 553641 email stella.havard@standardbred.co.uk

Secretaries:   Karina Pugh & Robert Millichap Correspondence :  Robert Millichap Grove House Tillington  Herefordshire HR4 8LW Tel: 01432 760186 email rmillichap@wyenet.co.uk

LOCAL HORSES SNATCH NATIONAL GLORY

Local point-to-point enthusiasts enjoyed a glorious visit to Stratford racecourse this weekend.

Traditionally, the national awards for the season are presented at the PPORA lunch at the venue, and the competition for the Weatherbys Chase/PPORA Leading Young Horse in the Welsh Border Area was hot. But it was the Shropshire-based Everall family’s seven year-old Beauchamp Oracle who finally took the title, shadowed by the Gibbons family’s Shemardi.

Beauchamp Oracle is trained at Shobdon by Steve Flook, who also had reason to celebrate later in the day.  He sent out Guignol Du Cochet to gallop to a brilliant threequarters of a length victory in the Dodson & Horrell PPORA Hunter Chase Final. The success was all the more poignant as the gelding was ridden by his owner, 41 year-old Lyonshall man, Glyn Slade-Jones, who was realising a cherished ambition in riding his first winner over regulation fences. Glyn, who is better known as a driver on the harness racing circuits, only learned to jump two years ago, and rode his first winner between the flags at Brecon last season, the day before his 40^th birthday. Glyn, modestly attributes his victory to Steve Flook’s diligent tuition (I’ve never yet ridden a horse when he hasn’t told me off!”) and initially to the patience of Billie Brown who gave him lessons over poles at her Penybont riding school.

Glyn is planning a unique treble this season as he now turns his attentions to training his father’s pacers. “I’ve ridden the winner of a point-to-point and a hunter ‘chase this year –if I can win a harness race this summer, it’ll be a combination that absolutely no-one else in the equestrian world is likely to achieve.”