David Probert was in double-winning form at Chepstow on Friday, one of which was trained by his compatriot David Evans. Grace Harris also saddled Connie’s Rose to land the five-furlong handicap. The game five-year-old wasn’t winning out of turn, for she was breaking a sequence of three second places in a row. She’s won seven times now and been placed in fifteen other races, to the delight of her owners Paul and Ann de Weck.
Saturday saw the slightly delayed start of the season at Worcester racecourse, which has had to cope with the effect of six floods in six months. The jockeys had the benefit of a brand new weighing room complex, and the Welsh ones had the added benefit of three winners.
The day began with a rarity, a 20/1 Sean Bowen winner. The Tom George-trained maiden What A Steal had run three or four races over hurdles with some promise, but more often he was well down the field. On this, his second try at chasing and his lowest handicap mark by some way, everything fell into place against similarly modest rivals. Bowen told Sky Sports, “Tom said he wasn't a bad horse on his old hurdles form and he was right. I gave him a squeeze four out and he winged it and I knew I was in business.”
Half an hour later, in the three-mile chase, it was Ben Jones’ turn on another maiden, Kennack Bay. On his first attempt over fences two years ago he was set to win when coming down at the penultimate fence. 674 days on the sidelines followed. He reappeared at Huntingdon in April and once again had the race in the bag only to blunder badly at the second last and unseat Jones. This time he was going like a winner from early in the straight and won by seven lengths. As Jones said afterwards, “The main objective today was to get over the second last!"
Jack Tudor took the long-distance hurdle on Mr Tambourine Man. David Pipe’s gelding had shown little until finishing a close second at Ffos Las off last time out. Running off a similar mark here, he headed James Bowen’s mount The Turtle Said as they approached the final flight. Bowen’s horse came down there and made it easy for Mr Tambourine Man. Grace Harris’s Halifax kept on to take second.
James Davies’s fine run goes on and on. His sixth winner since the beginning of May came at Stratford on Saturday. Six And Out had been second in three bumpers before four hurdles, where he alternated good runs with bad. He was eighth time lucky in this novices event over two and a quarter miles. For some horses two miles is too sharp and two and a half is too far, so these in-between distances are a boon to them.
Chepstow’s Country & Western evening this Saturday promises to be quite a novelty, with classic cars, tin can shooting and line dancing lessons on the card and a C&W band playing after racing
