REPORT: SUFFOLK AT AMPTON – SATURDAY 7TH MARCH 2020

The Suffolk Hunt meeting at Ampton proved to be an unforgettable day in the young life of jockey Jack Andrews, who rode four winners on the afternoon.

Jack, 21, is currently leading the national male riders’ championship, and his memorable day started perfectly when Generous Ransom challenged at the last to pip the long-time leader, the gallant 15-year-old Gunmoney, in the opening Veteran Horses Conditions race. John Russell was clear in his mind that Gunmoney’s slight error of judgement at the last fence was decisive, saying, “I would have been surprised if we had been beaten. He gave everything as usual.”

Tullys Touch justified favouritism when comfortably defeating four other rivals in the Men’s Open. The pairing took the lead five fences from home and never looked in danger of surrendering their lead. This very consistent seven-year-old has never been out of the first two placings in seven points, and this was his third Ampton course win with Jack in the saddle.

Jack completed the first four-timer of his career with wins in both divisions of the Open Maiden. His two mounts, Man of Means and Direct Flight (pictured), were making their British racecourse debuts, and with Jack currently riding with so much confidence, their successes were never in doubt.

Man of Means is trained by his brother-in-law, Tom Ellis, and had had one run in Ireland, but as with all Tom’s maidens, he had been expertly schooled. Jack’s integral association with the stable is a definite plus and, although there was some novicey jumping early on, the five-year-old warmed to the task in hand, coming away to win by five lengths from an improved performance by Andrew Pennock’s Urban Waltz.

Direct Flight is owned and trained by Nigel Padfield, who has been associated with the Andrews’ family success over many years. This was a really promising racecourse debut from this Irish-bred youngster, who will be skilfully placed to add to the success rate of Nigel’s yellow and dark blue hoop colours.

Fittingly, Jack won the Hugh Hodge Perpetual Trophy for the leading rider at Ampton this season. Hugh would have been so proud of what his grandson has achieved already in his career to date.

Huntsmans Jog followed up his January victory at Ampton with another win, this time in the Intermediate. Liam Harrison brought Don Cantillon’s six-year-old through to take the lead on the run-in. After winning his Maiden here unchallenged, this was always going to be a more competitive affair, and that was the reason Liam made sure his mount was not hustled during the race, with the possibility of making unforced jumping errors. Benefaktor and Gina Andrews employed their customary front-running tactics, and rounding the final bend Huntsmans Jog was only third but from here on in Liam “needed to get busy with him”. As it was, they arrived very late but with a well-timed challenge over the last obstacle to win by three-quarters of a length from Benefaktor, with Higham winner Normofthenorth a further length away.

The personable and eloquent Liam Harrison will be one to follow in the professional ranks in the very near future. Having just completed his Conditional course at Newmarket, Liam will remain an amateur until probably May and, being attached to Fergal O’Brien’s very successful outfit, will have plenty of chances to show his talent on the bigger stage. Liam was only available at Ampton because of the abandonment of Sandown’s Imperial Cup card, in which he had a ride in the big race. This followed another disappointment when having a live chance in the recent Eider Chase at Newcastle, which was also called off. Minor setbacks in the scheme of things, and with the possibility of some Cheltenham Festival opportunities, life couldn’t be better for young Liam.

The Ladies’ Open was another close affair, with Changeofluck and Izzie Marshall just holding off Darius des Bois and Frankie Flinton by a length in a driving finish. The winning partnership was always up in the lead or sharing it with the favourite Pass the Glass, and it was the stamina of the Alan Hill-trained 12-year-old which saw him outstay all challengers up the testing finishing hill.

Alan Hill was responsible for another winner when Knight Batchelor and Henrietta Cranfield gained due compensation for their unfortunate disqualification at the previous Ampton meeting, in the Novice Riders’ race. Sent off favourite, the pairing’s superior fencing saw them triumph by a length over Fox Valley. Henrietta was recording her second career win and was extremely pleased for her willing partner, saying “He so deserved this win” following his Ampton misfortunes and after finishing 2nd at Higham. That latter race was probably not testing enough and Henrietta was suffering from a touch of flu that day. Henrietta only has the chance to ride out once a week, on average, because of the demands of her busy working life as a lawyer in London, and thoroughly enjoyed, once again, the thrill and excitement of riding a winner.

A fine day’s racing concluded with an emotional Ruth Pennock leading in her “favourite family pet”, Somme Boy, after his Hunt race victory. Breathing problems aside, provided ground conditions and the pace of the race are conducive, this nine-year-old has a turn of speed, which he demonstrated as he and Sam Lee caught and passed their two remaining rivals at the last fence. This might have been only Somme Boy’s third win in five years with the Pennock stable, but the sheer joy of this success for Ruth, Andrew and son Henry, was there for all to witness. Happy scenes for Ruth and her family in the same winner’s enclosure that Jack Andrews had graced four times earlier in the afternoon.