PREVIEW: COTTESMORE (SUNDAY 23RD NOVEMBER)

Point-to-Point racing returns to the Midlands Area for the Cottesmore meeting at Garthorpe on Sunday, the 23rd of November. Garthorpe (slings.elects.panics) is on the B676, a few miles East of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, and is easy to get to from every direction.
Full details can be found on the Garthorpe page on our website.

There will be six races, starting at 12pm. Tickets for this fixture are available on the Midlands Pointing website or on the gate on the day (£15). Admission for under 16-year-olds is free and there will be the usual selection of tradestands, bookmakers, and other off-track entertainment, including a licensed bar and various food outlets.

Garthorpe has had more than sixty millimetres of rain in the last few weeks and at the start of this week it was officially good to soft, soft in places with Clerk of the Course Jim Culloty describing the ground as, “absolutely beautiful.”

This year Garthorpe have introduced a new Garthorpe Top Horse competition which offers points to winners in each of the four meetings at the Leicestershire course which count towards a £1000 bonus. Full details are on the website here.

The Saffery Mixed Open race brings together four horses with very similar ratings. Milo Herbert has a choice of rides for Monmouthshire-based Ncky Shepherd on seven-year-old Yippee Ki Yay
(115) and top-rated Grandads Cottage (118), the latter a winner four times over chase fences. Gina Andrews will pilot multiple winner I’m Spellbound either here or in the previous race, the 0-110 rated race. Paul Marvel (117), a winner this time last year at Knightwick, is trained by Joseph O’Shea and ridden by Huw Edwards. Potter Party (110) is a new member of Kelly Morgan’s string having been a chase winner under rules. Ellie Callwood has the ride. They will compete for local favourite status with Marina Bealby, who rides her Mother, Antonia’s Somptueux (107). Six-year-old Kandor (97) is another ex-hurdler, trained by Matthew Gill.

The new Jockey Club 0-110 Rated Series is a ten-race series leading to a hunter chase final. Entrants must not have been rated above 110 under rules (point-to-point ratings are irrelevant). This race has seven entries, among them, as previous mentioned, I’m Spellbound (Gina Andrews). If they choose this over the Open there could be an interesting match-up with Francesca Poste-trained Kilfilum Woods (C.
Brewitt). Both of these horses went to Stratford at the end of last season after successful campaigns. No stranger to Garthorpe, Badbad Leroy Brown will represent Sarah Hollinshead with Cameron Hillhouse in the plate. William Ewart (Carl Brennan) was regularly in the frame last season for Joseph Stevenson and should be up there on form. Capable pointer Secret Cargo (Kathryn Featherstone) makes the long trip up from Surrey having missed a season last year and Whosmydaddy will be the mount of Ben Durrell having not raced since winning a Restricted race in 2023.

We start the afternoon at 12pm with a 2m 4f young horse Maiden, kindly sponsored by local Prep School Witham Hall. These races are a shop window for talented youngsters of four and five years old, the winners often going on to make good money in future sales. Here we have three who have been on a racetrack previously, including five-year-old Kilaro (Paddy Barlow), trained locally by Louise Bevin. The four-year-olds who receive the 7lb allowance are Raise You Fifty, trained by Keather Kemp and ridden by Sean O’Connor; The Den Master, trained and ridden by Gina Andrews; Well This Won’t Do, trained by David Phelan and ridden by Zac Baker; and Dreamaboutit trained by Edward Rees, who also gets the filly’s allowance. Guy Sankey finished third in the Melton Hunt Club ride two weekends ago and rides Push To Pass here for Neil Gittins. Kitman, trained by Robin Tate, ran in Irish points previously.

The Ladies Conditions Race, raced over the shorter two-and-a-half-mile distance, is sponsored by Pukka Pies and has six entries which include Somptueux (Marina Bealby) and Potters Party (Ellie Callwood) who are also entered in the Mixed Open, later in the card. The form horse in this line-up is I K Brunel, trained by Alan Hill and ridden by daugher-in-law Izzie, who have three wins and three seconds in 2025.
The Gina Andrews-trained Loughan will be in the running – four seconds and a third last season – as will Williewonga for Joseph O’Shea and Nathan Richards. Baby Chou is new to pointing having raced under rules and will represent the yard of Cooper Wilson with Mis P.J.Brown in the saddle.

Later in the day, after the Open, we have a Restricted Race sponsored by pork pie company Dickinson and Morris. Eleven entries might come forward of which the pick will almost certainly be the five-year-old Call Me Early who is trained by Gina Andrews for the Signy and Marriage families and already has three wins and a second on his record for which he will carry and extra five pounds.

Finally we have ten entries for the Open Maiden race, sponsored by Renovation Underwriting, which will be contested over the usual three-mile distance. Three horses have never run on a point-to-point track before and two more have only seen a track on one occasion. The Fixture Secretary will be represented by Easy Rider, under daughter Marina Bealby, who was in the money several times last season.

We look forward to welcoming visitors to this unusually early fixture this year. Wrap up warm and bring a picnic, ready to enjoy some great racing from some of the best trainers in the business.