LAST MEETING REVIEW

A sunny but breezy day was the theme of our last raceday, which when coupled with five winning favourites 1 2 made it a great day for punters. The day kicked off with our longest race of the day, an extended three-mile two-furlong hurdle for conditional jockeys. They went a slow gallop in the early stages and leaving the back straight it looked as though it could be anyone’s race, however once the pace increased, class began to show and Espinator took it up turning for home. Mr Yeats did not have it all his own way and the poor jump of Espinator ultimately put the nail in the coffin for his chances and Mr Yeats was pushed out to victory. Bradley Harris has already ridden seven winners in the 22/23 season and looks to be great value for his claim. Our second race saw six runners go to post, with Time Flies By and Bagheera Ginge vying for favouritism. The latter ended up making the running under Sam Twiston Davies for his father Nigel after his recent success in a Stratford maiden. He arrived here carrying a penalty but saw this trip out nicely, not seeing another rival. The Torbay Media Novices’ Chase sprung our only real surprise of the day as Adam West and Lee Edwards combined with Noahthirtywored to take victory by an eased down four lengths. Mascat was subject to a lot of market support on his chasing debut and after leading narrowly early on he threw in some sketchy jumping which eventually cost him later down the line. Byzantine Empire was back in novice company after he was beaten at short

3

odds on his last start however he couldn’t bridge the gap to the winner but was giving him 10lbs. The eventual 4 winner was a four-time winner over hurdles and made a winning start to his chasing career. He isn’t the biggest at his fences but jumped soundly throughout, no doubt he will go well again under a penalty. Archie Watson has had a good time of it this summer over obstacles and he found himself once again in the winners’ enclosure with Nifty Getaway. A winner of her three starts in bumpers, she was well held in a Listed contest back in March but capitalised here to make a winning hurdling debut. No doubt she will find plenty of improvement from this effort and

could pick up some black type later down the line. Lady Jane P was returning from a 245-day absence, having previously shown some useful form in bumpers and then followed it up with a good debut over hurdles. She hit the last hard, which ultimately cost her any chance but she will be winning races in the future. Milton Harris once again found himself in the winners’ enclosure but this time it was regular jockey Mitchell Bastyan doing the steering. Appreciate made his life hard back hurdling when clouting two out, hampering a couple of his rivals in the process, but his class came to the fore to take victory. There could be more in the short term to come from him and he could well go even further in the future.

Good Impression could well come on for the run and looks to be lurking off a dangerous mark. Minella Voucher gave claimer Toby Wynne a good victory in our penultimate race, travelling strongly throughout before staying on well to victory. D’Jango showed that there is still an appetite for the game after some below par performances and could well win again despite not getting any younger. Our final race of the day saw our shorter price winner for the Bowen family. Sean Bowen kept things nice and simple in the bumper to win by however many lengths he chose. Always Busy made good headway turning from home but was never going to catch the winner, who very much was in a league of her own.

7

5

PHOTOS:

1  MR YEATS IRE 2  BAGHEERA GINGE 3  NOAHTHIRTYTWORED IRE 4  NIFTY GETAWAY IRE 5  APPRECIATE IRE 6  MINELLA VOUCHER 7  LETTERSTON LADY