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Incessant wet weather and abandoned meetings are causing frustration across the sport of point-to-pointing, but there is no rest for some.
Josh Newman (pictured above), who last season became champion trainer for yards with 15 or more horses, rode at Ascot yesterday (Saturday), while today he was attending a Pony Club showjumping competition with his family. He confided: “Hopefully it won’t take too long, because I wouldn’t mind putting my feet up this afternoon and watching some sport on the telly.”
Newman enjoyed a grand spin at Ascot when finishing second in an 18-runner handicap hurdle on Diamatiste, who is trained by his wife, Kayley Woollacott, but finding opportunities to run horses is proving nearly as challenging for licensed trainers as for those who focus on the point-to-point circuit. Newman said: “We ran two at Ascot, but only because Lingfield [tomorrow] was abandoned and you couldn’t be sure if Ffos Las [Friday] would go ahead.”
It was a similar scenario that resulted in Newman running Woodstock Octo at Larkhill last weekend after plans to aim at Chipley Park and then Buckfastleigh were thwarted by abandonments. Woodstock Octo was ridden by his trainer when winning the second of this season’s GB Pointing Young Horses Maiden Series races, which was held at Dunsmore in November, following which Newman said the six-year-old would remain on the point-to-point circuit for the time being. All winners from the series will pick up a cash bonus of £15,000 or £25,000 if winning a race under rules within two years, but Woodstock Octo’s owners, John and Sonia Gardener, are point-to-point fans who are in no hurry with their horse.
Newman said: “He seemed to strengthen up over Christmas and we felt he could be competitive in the restricted race at Larkhill. Then they split the race beforehand and it could be said we got the weaker division.”
Woodstock Octo (Josh Newman) pictured winning at Dunsmore in November (Tim Holt)
On race times that theory was borne out, with the first division, won narrowly by Boley Bob, after a good battle with runner-up Follow My Order, proving ten seconds quicker, yet Newman said he would have been happy to run his horse against that pair. He said: “The final fence at Larkhill can be a lonely place when you are clear and my horse stuttered going into it [before he scored by nine lengths]. I would have loved to have been in the other division and taken a lead going to the last from the two horses who finished first and second. With a good jump at the last he’s not one for slowing down.”
Newman and Woodstock Octo’s owners are for the time being resisting temptation to aim for one of the bonuses connected with his Young Horse Maiden win by running under rules, and they have time on their side. In an arrangment with the Horserace Betting Levy Board and British Horseracing Authority cash worth £25,000 for all British-bred winners from the series, and £15,000 for horses bred overseas, is waiting to be won. The aim is to put a spotlight on young British pointers and provide further connection between the ‘professional’ and ‘amateur’ sports.
Irish-bred Woodstock Octo would win the lower sum if winning under rules from a licensed trainer’s yard, and an easy switch into Woollacott’s stable might be tempting at some point. Two other winners from the series, Baron Du Brizais and Barito, have since been sold for £90,000 and £60,000 respectively and joined the stables of Ben Pauling and Lucinda Russell.
However, Newman said: “We’re likely to look for an intermediate race or another restricted in which he would carry a penalty. The owners would like to run him back in Devon & Cornwall, but if there’s a race at the right track we would consider that. Whatever happens he will be better again for another summer break.”
Welcome news for trainers of four- and five-year-old point-to-pointers was announced two days ago when the young horse maiden at next Sunday’s Badbury Rings meeting was converted into a GB Pointing Young Horse Maiden Series race with sponsorship by Tattersalls Cheltenham. Newman said he expects to make a couple of entries.
Twenty-four hours earlier, Alnwick’s College Valley & North Northumberland meeting is set to stage another round in the series, this time with sponsorship by Goffs.
Entries for both meetings close at 12.30pm tomorrow (Monday, February 16).
