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It is often said point-to-pointing and hunter chasing can revive a horse’s fortunes and give racing experience to novice riders.
This article first appeared in the Racing Post on Friday 3rd February.
Those theories combined at Hereford a week last Monday when Heidi Palin (above right, riding out at Dan Skelton’s yard) rode Bennys King to victory in the hunters’ chase following a good scrap with Olive Nicholls on Magic Saint. Both women are in their second season of racing, and Palin’s CV involved just nine rides and three wins on the point-to-point circuit, plus two previous spins under Rules, yet she gave Bennys King a ride that was nothing if not positive.
The partnership returned an SP of 20/1, presumably because the horse’s form figures read PP-PP, yet prior to that slump he reached an RPR of 160 with two fine runs against high-class Dashel Drasher. Horses do not always regain the winning thread after a poor run of form, but Bennys King did.
Palin with Bennys King
Palin, 19, was raised in North Wales by parents with interests in showjumping and racing. Opting to forego further education, she went to the British Racing School and from there to a job with Dan Skelton. It has become a policy at the yard to give keen staff members rides in point-to-points, and so last season, Palin had her first outing on ex-chaser Azzuri, who is trained by Skelton’s assistant Nick Pearce.
She finished fourth and over the coming months won three races on the horse. She says: “Azzuri looked after me and kept me safe. He taught me the ropes, but now I’m riding horses that don’t just take me everywhere through a race. I cannot just go out in front – I have to ride a race.”
Pearce, who at Cocklebarrow the previous day had provided another teenage member of Skelton’s staff, Toby Fry, with a first point-to-point winner, says: “Heidi pointed last season, and now she’s stepping up a notch. It’s all part of the education.”
The win at Hereford was not without incident, for Bennys King stumbled landing over the third fence and Palin looked set for an UR before recovering her position. Pearce says: “That was down to stickability from her showjumping background and the fear of a rollicking if she had fallen off!”
Her next test came on Saturday when the Skelton-trained Not That Fuisse ran in Wetherby’s hunters’ chase and Palin won again.
