This Saturday we welcome The Wurzels to the racecourse to play after racing. Their appeal is quite incredible considering the band started in 1966 and had a number one hit with The Combine Harvester in 1976!
Our sales have been exceptionally strong and this ‘Scrumpy and Western’ band definitely retain their popularity. Our first race is off at 1.08pm and tickets are £24 in advance and £27 on the day. There are a range of beers and ciders available too.
The first day of the flat season on turf last Saturday saw David Probert add another winner to the 50 he has already accumulated on the all-weather. Groundbreaker’s four-length victory in the ten-furlong maiden was achieved despite running a little too keenly in the early stages.
Probert’s turf campaign should benefit indirectly from the absence of the suspended champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who rode 40 winners last year for Balding, the Welshman’s main employer.
James Bowen can often be found at some far-flung meeting riding a Nicky Henderson horse in the bumper. The one he rode in at Kelso on Saturday was worth over £15,000 to the winner. Bold Reaction was the form horse and duly obliged.
The 21-year-old is enjoying a purple patch, with 28 winners since the turn of the year – which is not far short of his total for the whole of 2020/21. His total of 70 so far this season puts him ninth in the National Hunt jockeys’ table, eleven wins and four places behind brother Sean.
Adam Wedge rode his 63rd winner of the season aboard Cup Of Coffee at Hexham on Monday.
Christian Williams went very close to a winner at Carlisle on Sunday. Powerful Position had won his last three outings and went down by only a neck at the end of a strong three mile handicap chase. Up from a handicap mark of 83 to 110 before this, his mark will rise again after this sterling effort.
The Williams horsebox will be heading up the M6 again next week, for he has the ante-post favourite for Saturday’s Coral Scottish National at Ayr. Kitty’s Light hasn’t always had the best of luck in his races, but a four-mile flat-track good ground contest with not too much weight on his back ticks lots of boxes. He’s 6/1 at the moment.
At twice the odds is stablemate Win My Wings, who has often been well supported, though not always successfully. It all came right, however, when he was a heavily backed winner of last month’s Eider Chase.
