PREVIEW – QUORN (SATURDAY 25TH APRIL)

This season’s Quorn Hunt Point-to-Point will take place at Garthorpe on Saturday the 25th of April, with a six-race card starting with a young horse maiden at 2pm.

Garthorpe racecourse is on the B676 East of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire. The postcode is LE14 2RS (W3W: slings.elects.panics). Gates will open at 11am.

To emphasise the wonders of grassroots sport, we have jockeys at this fixture from opposite ends of the experience spectrum. Champion Jockey Gina Andrews has entries in half the races while in the maiden we will see the debut in any form of horse racing for jockey Will Fraser. Will’s ride Back in Tennessee had an inauspicious career on the flat, running five times for three different trainers. Since the day Will first rode him – and immediately got bucked off – “Tenne” has been hunted and team chased with some success, so we wish him the best of luck for this bucket list venture.

The feature race of the day is the 3.10pm running of the Mixed Open for The Quorn Gold Cup, one of the most prestigious trophies in British point-to-point racing. 10 combinations are entered for this renewal in the hope of getting some of the £1000 prize fund but some have more than one entry on the card. As well as local entries we have potential visitors from Shropshire, East Anglia, Yorkshire and Gloucestershire. Topping the ratings amongst these is Fairly Famous, the Signy and Marriage Families’ nine-year-old Fame And Glory gelding who has three wins already this season in the care of Gina Andrews. However Gina also has the ride on No Risk des Flos in this for the Stearn family. Although both talented they won’t have this race their own way if Tag Man runs. Charles Clark trains this 10-year-old which has three wins and two seconds this season but he will run with a 5lb penalty having recently been awarded a win in the open at Morpeth. The KM Racing Club’s Shentri seems to have mastered the keeping Poppy Shaw on board and has good form this season. Sambezi also trained very locally, this time by Laura Pomfret, and shared the spoils in a match race dead heat with Fumet d’Oudairies last time out here. Louis Hadfield trains and rides Coeur Serein which may run here but also has an entry in the previous race, as do Sambezi and Shentri. This also applies to Slipway, trained by James Luck and ridden by Molly Armytage, a first season pointer with a win last time out at Siddington.

The afternoon begins with a maiden race for four and five-year-old horses and the nine entries come from far and wide. Admiral Bonzo, She’s Daphne and That’s Phwaroah would be making their racecourse debut. The Alice Dawson-trained Midnight Dragon is probably the most fancied based on form but they will be giving over a stone to four-year-old fillies She’s Daphne and Kalyeeda Creek.

The Conditions Race, second to go, has 11 entries, including Coeur Serein, Sambezi, Shentri, Slipway and Wottinger who have entries in the Mixed Open which follows. Joining them are Go Go Geronimo, trained by Kelly Morgan, fresh from a victory at Paxford earlier in the month. Also Midlands-trained are Champagne Glory, trained by Stuart Morris, and Cash or Card, trained by Dale Peters. James Luck is represented here by What A Steal, a first season pointer with a win from his first run. Bradley Gibbs trains Bluescape, a mare with a seven-pound allowance, twice a winner this season.

A number of the 11 horses entered for the Restricted Race won on their last outings giving them some confidence as the move up to the next level. These are Avichi In The Park, Breathless Bishop and Keystone. Others like Steppingstone, Validation, Policy Breaker and Arkle Rua have been at this level for three or four races without further success. A mixed bunch. Keystone is trained and ridden by Dale Peters who is currently the country’s leading small string trainer and showed improvement when winning at Edgcote earlier in the month.

At 4.20pm we have the Open Maiden which has no weight-for-age allowances and this is where Will Fraser will make his debut on Back In Tennessee. Again there are some here making debuts and others who have been maidens for a while.

We finish the day with the Conditions Race for Novice Riders which has six entries, two of which come from the yard of Edward Turner at Ampton Hall: Atlantic Fleet and Good Source. Steppingstone has the option of running in this one, as does Stuart Morris-trained Champagne Glory. Getupearly has a string of second-placed finishes and will want to break the duck here.

The Quorn always invite a large trade stand village and this year they are also supporting the farmers in their country by hosting them in a food marquee where all the produce will have low “food miles”. There is an award for the best dressed picnic so, if you are planning on entertaining friends or clients, see if you can go that extra mile and win yourself a prize.

Children under 16 are admitted free. Tickets for admission are available online here. https://midlandspointing.com/tickets/