REPORT – HURWORTH – SATURDAY 16TH MARCH

This weekend the Hurworth held their meeting at Hutton Rudby, there were six competitive races and on display was the Cheltenham Hunter chase trophy which was won by the Hurworth qualified Sine Nomine only 24 hours earlier, and it was straight back to business for the Cheltenham Festival winning jockey John Dawson, as he steered the prolific veteran Mount Mews to further success in the opening Hunt Members race. It was also a great day to remember for young riders Isobel Mactaggart and Katriona Brown as they both rode their first winners.

Fresh from his victory at the Cheltenham Festival, John Dawson steered Mount Mews to victory despite burdened with a 10lb penalty. Fire In Her Eyes was challenging from the second last, however Jack Teal’s mount could never quite get her head past the 13yo and was the start of a double for local trainer Lucinda Hughes. Her second success came in the Men’s Open race with Super Citizen, always to the fore under Nick Orpwood the pair’s assignment was made very simple when odds on favourite Buster Valentine blundered two out when making a strong challenge, allowing Super Citizen to come home with relative ease and Cuneo filling second under John Dawson.

Jockeys having their first career successes on the day included Katriona Brown, who steered her own Legalized to success in the ROR Veteran Horse race. The pair were second approaching the straight, but a strong run towards the line saw the pair pull clear of the favourite Poncherello and Henry Crow back in second, whilst Buzzard Trix was further back in third. Katriona who studies at Liverpool University during the week, is studying Mental Health Nursing and keeps her pointer at Ian Browns. With such a busy schedule, Katriona is aided with training Legalized by Jenifer Foster “Jenifer helps me out when I’m not always there and with having only one horse I’ve had to find other ways of keeping fit, so I’ve signed up to the Manchester marathon” laughed Katriona, who is currently in her last year of university.

Northern raider Isobel Mactaggart was another having her first victory between the flags as she partnered Thosedaysaregone to victory in the Ladies Open race. A very talented recruit back in his day, potentially his greatest effort came when winning the Ladbrook hurdle and then going on to finish third in the Coral Cup at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival. The winning pair had to work hard up the run in as they were persistently challenged by fellow Northern contender Supremely Lucky and Natasha Cookson, whilst Red Opium lacked the pace to get past the leading pair back in a close third under Rosie Howarth.

The Restricted race saw a very promising recruit get back to winning ways in Grangeclare Diego under Paddy Barlow. It was a fitting victory as Paddy was unseated from the winner two weeks prior and airlifted to hospital, but he didn’t let that discourage him and the pair forged clear up the straight to win easily, with Imperial Imp back in second under Isla John. It was an impressive victory for trainer John Barlow who admits he is certainly one to follow in the future “he is a very good horse…we’ll continue pointing this season, then he’ll probably go novice chasing next year” said John who admits he has a very bright future.

The final race on the day was the Open Maiden race and saw Joe Wright pilot the very impressive Soldier Of Rock to an effortless 18 length victory. His recent placed efforts in Ireland made it no surprise to see him come home in such an easy fashion, second place saw the Joe Wright trained but Lyall Hodgins rode We Done It take second and looks sure to get his head in front before long, whilst Sponthus was a similar margin back in third under Thomas Easterby