Wednesday, November 28, 2012

POINT-TO-POINT 2012-2013 : THE SUN THAT BOILED OVER


CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY UNITED HUNTS CLUB
Cottenham (RH 9F, 19J)
Sun, 25 Nov 2012 (Good)



Ah, Pointing season, just in time.  Thank God you're here.

It’s anyone’s guess as to how some of us ever managed to cope when Pointing observed a February-June calendar, given that even this summer and autumn’s shortest-ever gap between seasons seemed a joyless eternity during which to be deprived of a favourite sport.  Yet there were times on the run-up to this weekend’s resumption that an enforced additional period of waiting seemed likely, with the payload of heavy rain dropping on many parts of the country looking all set to test to breaking point the reputations of both Black Forest Lodge and Cottenham as two of Pointing’s most weather-resilient venues.

In the event, both courses withstood the weather better than much else in their immediate respective environs.  Whilst Black Forest Lodge did ultimately have to postpone, it did so on account of just a single drain blocking and saturating one bend rather than due to the same sort of wholesale flooding that had inundated neighbouring villages such as Kennford.  It wouldn’t require much improvement for the course to become raceable once again, and another attempt at racing a week on from the original date is likely to prove successful.

Cottenham, meanwhile, fared even better.  Not for this former Rules venue the same waterlogging headaches which in the preceding days had claimed the fixture at nearby Huntingdon, a course still very obviously unfit for anything other than a duck race on the evidence of the naked eye when driven past en route to Cottenham.  Instead, the thirsty old turf and keen drainage of the latter venue did their job well enough to ensure not just that racing went ahead, but did so on ground predominately good and certainly no worse than good to soft (with perhaps a slight tendency towards stickiness as the wind continued to whip the top of the surface).

The (to many) unappealingly firm surface of 12 months previously it was not, then, and the greater confidence in underfoot conditions this year than last was borne out by an eventual turnout of 52 runners, exactly double that of 2011 and from an only slightly higher initial entry (86 versus 81).  Also seemingly back in slightly greater number this time were the crowds; and whilst the early-season meets at the Cambridgeshire venue are never likely to be packed to the rafters (actual rather than proverbial here, given the provision of the grandstand), there was certainly a touch more life about the place. 

What had proven the catalyst for that improved punter patronage isn’t easily determined.  A few copies of the new supplement from the Racing Plus were certainly evident, but some of those brandishing them were recognisable as regular local racegoers as opposed to first-timers inspired to give Pointing a try.



RACE ONE: PPORA CLUB MEMBERS CONDITIONS
==========================================

Without the competition of the short Maiden at Black Forest Lodge originally scheduled to go off at the same time, this contest assumed the role of the opener for the entire season, though you’d have got longer odds about Ally Stirling emerging as 2012-13’s first winner than for any other rider beforehand.

CORREDOR SUN had last been seen causing bother in a succession of attempted/false starts for the extended 2m1f event on Stratford’s big early-June evening of hunter chases (pulled up in the race proper), and neither of the Pointing starts which had immediately preceded it were especially inspiring, either.  Remedial work on a stomach ulcer problem had been undertaken in the meantime, however, and the positive response to which ensured that the “East Anglian maximum” starting price of 40-1 for this rank outsider was starting to look excessively generous by the time he hit the front approaching the last en route to victory in the day’s quickest 3m time.

Stirling’s steady working of Corredor Sun into the race throughout the final circuit was perfectly judged, and further underlined the leaps and bounds she has made as a rider throughout 2012 which had also been evident when guiding Dark Energy to victory in a lady riders’ handicap hurdle at Market Rasen only three days earlier.  Boasting a record of 2-3 over timber this National Hunt season, all gained on horses trained by Fergal O’Brien, Stirling had O’Brien’s successor as assistant trainer to Nigel Twiston-Davies, Richard Bevis, to thank for the winner this time. 

The same rider, incidentally, has “previous” as a winner on the first day of the Pointing season, having landed the Novice Riders’ event at Black Forest Lodge on the Hannah Lewis-trained Absolutely Barking back in November 2008.

SWALLOWS DELIGHT had pulled up in the same Stratford 2m1f hunter chase when last seen, that short a trip on that sharp a track having evidently suited him far less well than the tougher course and deteriorating ground of his second-place finish in Cheltenham’s 2m hunter the time before.  A Restricted scorer over the full trip at Kingston Blount (good) when last seen between the flags, only a lack of late toe compared to the rejuvenated winner prevented a closer finish on this occasion.  A win at this or Intermediate level may yet be his.

Beforehand, the outcome this race had looked set to hinge on the current wellbeing of HERECOMESTHETRUTH.  A 159-rated chaser exactly three years previously and the winner of the Scilly Isles (Grade 1) and Pendil (Grade 2) Novice Chases during 2008-9 for Paul Nicholls, the 2-1 biggest price available looked huge if the majority of his class from those halcyon days remained.

Set against that, however, was the fact that the 10-year-old’s only two outings in the past 23 months had seen him beaten a mile in the Topham and bursting blood vessels in a Market Rasen class 2 handicap shortly after; and having gone from kicking 4l or more clear three fences from home here to struggling to hold on to the advantage turning in, the feeling that something was compromising him physically at the point of maximum pressure again bubbled to the fore.  There’s no question of this multiple pillar-to-post victor having got to the front too soon, and winning first time after a break this long or longer was well within his gift in the past.  His next outing should tell us more - it would be interesting to see if an aid of some description is applied.

PETIT LORD's fourth here constituted only the second time he's missed the podium when completing in Points, but the success or otherwise of this latest season may be better gauged on what he achieves if and when returned to Chaddesley Corbett, where a record of 3-3 compares to one of 3-20 elsewhere.

It’s been nearly four years since British debutant ISLAND WOOD showed much over this far a trip in any mode of racing, but in no race during his Irish career over this or any other trip had he spent as long out in front as today.  He may appreciate having a bit less use made of him again in future.

GIN COBBLER was campaigned extensively throughout 2011-12, accruing two wins and seven places en route to the Northern Area Leading Novice Horse title.  The first of four representatives on this card for the same Area’s champion male rider Tristan Davidson and the country’s joint-leading owner Victor Thompson, a 49l seventh here is by some margin his heaviest defeat in Points when completing.  It’s to be hoped that this is attributable entirely to having needed the run, rather than to last season having left a mark.

Owner Steven Astaire mentioned in a Twitter communication with Bevis and Stirling a day after racing that both of his runners on this card needed their races.  In fact, if early 2011-12 form when still campaigned in Ireland is any judge, TOWERING RUN may yet need another run or two after this pulled-up reappearance to be fully wound up, with the hat-trick of increasingly impressive victories gained for Philip and John Mathias last spring an indication of what sort of form can be expected from him upon that eventuality.

One-time prolific Evan Williams chaser William Butler is another who may yet prove better than he showed here, though a note of caution is that a 44l third in a four-runner Towcester hunter chase is the only completion he’s managed now in four 2012 starts following a 19-month hiatus.


RACE TWO: MENS OPEN
====================

Herecomesthetruth’s turnout in the opener, allied to the non-appearance of Divine Intavention and On Borrowed Wings, denuded this Men’s Open of much of its interest.  For all that, the one thing that still seemed likely was a strongly run affair, given the presence of that eyeballs-out front-runner and dual Fakenham hunter chase scorer MARKY BOB. 

That, however, was not quite what materialised, for although setting out in front the Hugo Froud-trained gelding’s advantage over the first 12 fences rarely extended beyond 3-4l and the fractions set were not the same searing ones of his victories in Norfolk – probably not even those of his commanding performance in snow-lashed conditions at Tweseldown earlier still, in fact.  The jumping was also wonkier than in recent memory, with lurches out to his left costing him ground at many obstacles; though a similar trait evident in victory at similarly clockwise Kilbeggan in spring 2010 sets a precedent for this tendency to disappear again hopefully as quickly as it onset. 

Either way, this was still a disappointing reappearance from the 4-5 favourite, and one that left the Joe Hill-ridden OCEAN DU MOULIN with relatively little to do to send blind-backers of Alan Hill-trained runners at Cottenham home happy again, notwithstanding the absence of this year’s intended “milk bottle horse” Fitobust.

It was Ocean Du Moulin’s overhauling by Mark Wall on Arbour Hill close home at Bratton Down in June which had denied Joe the outright National Novice Riders’ title and Alan similarly the entire share of the National Owners’ title prize, but he’d hard to work far harder to secure the lead in what was overall a deeper-looking Open (his first) that day and a repeat of that late flagging never looked remotely likely here.  There may not be much in the way of improvement to come from him rising 11, but this much-loved part of the set-up at Aston Rowant is sure to be placed wisely and to advantage again this season.  Maybe targeting wins in Kimblewick Hunt Members races at both Kingston Blount and Kimble for the second year running will be considered.

MONOGRAM, another representing the Thompson/Davidson axis, did well to stay in the contest after belting the fifth, and was staying on again late (albeit from a pretty remote position) having been comprehensively outpaced early on the final circuit.  Three trips to Alnwick early last season garnered him a win and two close place finishes, whilst appearances at Overton’s two fixtures netted him another victory and a head second – needless to say, he’ll command a deal of respect if the first half of his season is geared around repeat visits to those venues hereafter.

The ex-Gary Moore PEPLUM spent most of 2011 in the grip of the handicapper following successive chase wins at Newbury and Ludlow, but performances off comparatively realistic marks this calendar year have been mostly disappointing.  As under Rules, he didn’t entirely convince here that 3m is within his compass.


RACE THREE: AGA LADIES OPEN
============================

A race that heralded the start of year three of AGA’s fulsome and generous involvement in the sport of Pointing, and a race longer on quality and quantity than the weak affair Zanzibar Boy claimed 12 months earlier.

The early dawdle wouldn’t necessarily have been to every competitor’s liking, but the hat-trick seeking SAGALYRIQUE was as adept over 2m3f as 3m at his best for Alan King and Donald McCain previously and remained wholly unfazed by the shape the race took.  Never too far away, Angela Rucker already had matters in control enough on the Sagacity gelding to be able to afford to steady him into the penultimate obstacle, and a lead of some 10l had been quickly reaffirmed by the time the last was reached.

Questions inevitably need to be asked of each AGA qualifier winner as to whether a tilt at the Series Final at Stratford is viable.  In terms of effectiveness around a flat left-hander, Sagalyrique’s National Hunt victories around Doncaster, Ayr and Bangor count for plenty; ditto the success at the last-named (to say nothing of today’s win and that over the clockwise Pointing line back at Bangor) in terms of doing well enough around a turning track.  His profile would suggest prospects of seeing out the 3m4f of the Final are ground-contingent, however, given the existence of numerous soft-ground successes but none of them beyond 2m4f (compared to four over 3m-plus on a sound surface).

PARK LANE’s second place in this contest was the best that any of the East Anglia-trained contingent could manage on a day dominated by the Midlands Areas (four wins for the West Midlands, including this one, plus a single victory each for the Midlands and South Midlands), though this still constituted a pretty satisfactory first ride in Points for Jess Quinlan, the 17-year-old daughter of the gelding’s trainer Jo.  Sometimes a challenging ride in sub-3m handicap chases this last summer, even in victory, Park Lane hadn’t necessarily caught the imagination as a horse to entrust to an inexperienced rider beforehand but seemed tractable enough here.

The 2010 Aintree Fox Hunters winner SILVER ADONIS had another inexperienced rider up in Tessa Champion, and this increasingly crafty animal did what he pleased in rear for most of the way round before making token late gains.  Previous trainer Dr Richard Newland eschewed Points with the Portrait Gallery gelding completely, and probably with good reason – the assertive ride from the front most likely to keep him interested would have placed a real strain on levels of stamina which, apart from one effort at Doncaster last winter, haven’t always held up sufficiently well over 3m trips.  New connections have an interesting conundrum to address.

There have been ups and downs to Clare Twemlow’s last four years on horseback to say the least.  The winner of Aintree’s John Smith’s People’s Race in 2008 when still Finance Director of the British Racing School, and the 343rd winner of the Newmarket Town Plate aboard Raifteiri in August, there had been a prolonged period out of the saddle in between whilst recovering from a broken back sustained in a gallops accident.

Attentions now turned to Point riding, RUSSIAN FLAG – trained like Raifteiri by her partner Neil King – promised to be a safe conveyance for Twemlow, having not hit the deck in over four years.  He didn’t promise to be stamina-laden enough to see out the full Pointing trip, however, given a Rules record of 5-27 over 2m-2m1f and 0-16 beyond that; and the recourse to front-running tactics here (under which he’s never won yet) negated any benefit he may have derived from the slow early start. 

A more patient strategy is going to be required if he stands any hope of landing a Point, but judged on his brace of 2m handicap chase wins over Sandown’s stiff, undulating right-hand track, the contest which particularly leaps out as a longer-term target this season is the minimum-trip “Thrusters” Hunter Chase around the topographically similar Leicester on March 8th.

CUTLASS SILVER won for Steven Astaire and Chris Loggin at Kingston Blount in June shortly after her purchase late last season, but like stablemate Towering Run earlier she will still have needed this return outing on the evidence of previous years’ campaigning.


RACE FOUR: RESTRICTED
======================

This may not be the strongest form for the grade, in as much as the winner had only once got to within half a length of the winner in 15 previous British Pointing starts and the three market leaders all met with some degree of mishap.

That’s not to take too much away from HALL KELLY, however, as Jelly O’Brien’s seven-year-old has now hit the frame in all bar four of those starts in this country and has never dislodged Abigail Banks in 10 rides under this 19-year-old niece of Angela Rucker.  Not always fluent, he’s nevertheless safe – that’s not a contradiction in terms.

Allowed to get back into contention on his terms having lost positions at about one-third distance, the Saddler’s Hall gelding threaded his way through flagging or errant rivals turning in and needed little more than hands and heels treatment from the last to extend the advantage from 2l to 10.  More improvement will be needed if an ascent through the grades is to be considered now, though with Banks winless before this performance there’s little stopping the partnership diverting to Novice Riders’ contests hereafter.  Her eligibility for the Princess Royal Trophy remains intact all season, too.

WE NEVER GIVE UP had the matter sewn up a long way out when breaking his duck in a firm-ground Godstone three-runner event last March, but finishing efforts in general (that win aside) have proven a little insubstantial and his inheritance of the lead turning for home here proved short-lived.  As with Phillip Rowley and Chief Heckler in the following race (q.v.), however, this was a performance which said enough good about at least one of Pauline Harkin’s early starters to offer hope that another, the stable star Doctor Kingsley, could be able to hit the ground running when making his seasonal reappearance imminently.

Early pacesetter TAMARA KING renewed her effort over the third and second-last fences, but the effort told bearing down on the last.  Garthorpe, Kingston Blount and now this venue (and a race run in the day’s slowest time) have all seemed a little on the speedy side for her since last April’s Mares’ Maiden victory at rain-lashed Clifton-on-Dunsmore on ground still good in name only.  A more exacting examination could be more usefully sought next time.

The first horse to go straight on at the final bend this season at Cottenham proved to be KILBEG OPERA, the excursion costing him the lead at the time.  Not effective over Rules fences in Ireland for Robert Tyner latterly, this performance looked set to pick up to an extent where a Nenagh win (yielding) in January 2011 had left off in Points, though definite victory today without that mishap would have been harder to predict.  A return to a sloppier surface ought not inconvenience.

A DROP OF BUBBLY still had something to offer when checking out five fences from home.  It’s still to be established fully whether previous lesser efforts on good ground in Ireland (two years ago) were due to the surface or physical immaturity – either way, the form of his early 2012 win on yielding remains a personal best between the flags anywhere.

Dingley short Maiden scorer REALT AG LEIMT wins or finishes second when completing in British Points, and another such finish still looked probable when a fall four out brought gelding and Dale Peters down to earth.  The drying ground would have suited, and there is still a routine Restricted to be won with him, despite three reverses at this grade now.


RACE FIVE: OPEN MAIDEN
======================

A good day for the Rucker family improved yet further in the first of two Maidens on the card and the only one over the full trip; though it would have been forgivable if the overriding emotion after JUST DAVE’s victory was one of relief that the Pointer top-rated duly made favouritism count to win something at last.

Half-brother to former Rebecca Curtis bumper and 2m hurdle winner Black Jack Blues (a winner of the Grade 1 Grand National Hurdle in the States this time last year), Just Dave had found even the shortest trip over timber a bit beyond him in 2010-11 despite being bred to stay further, thus adding credence to connections’ assertion that he’d been a weak horse up to now (and no less so despite placing twice in Points last spring).  What he would have had left in a fight up the run-in remains a matter of conjecture after this win given the departure of his closest pursuer at the last, but his tether hadn’t been obviously reached at the time of that incident.  His best days remain all ahead of him as he continues to strengthen.

Accepting that it’s always easy for a grandstand jockey to say as much, CHIEF HECKLER’s unseat of Alex Edwards at the last did have a slightly soft look about it as the Dushyantor gelding hadn’t appeared to make too calamitous an error.  However, up to that point this had looked a return effort which picked up nicely where he’d left off in chasing home Wat Jimmy Call It at Bangor 20 months earlier, and at the same time drew a line under some steadily regressive efforts in bumpers and a novice hurdle for Charlie Longsdon in the interim.  As a barometer to the likely wellbeing of handler Phillip Rowley’s early-season Pointers, the portents are fairly encouraging on this evidence, all in all.

British debutant BANKSANDDITCHES inherited second place following Chief Heckler’s exit, but a 30l defeat was far more than had appeared in the offing when within a couple of that rival and the winner at the Cattleyard Fence (five out) on the final circuit.  0-19 for his career now, including 0-13 in Points, previous evidence suggests his best hope for a place finish or better would be once dropped to 2m4f – though at that trip a lack of sufficient late tactical speed has often compromised him.

DID YOU EVER, another Irish import, placed for the first time in 12 career starts (seven in Points), but although having a soundish surface over this far a trip for the first time ever still didn’t look a three-mile winner in waiting.  He can be aimed at the shorter equivalent instead for a little longer yet.

MOSCOW BLAZE still had a card or two to play when crashing out four from home on his one previous run, a chaotic Larkhill short Maiden last January where only one of 10 starters managed to complete.  The six-year-old looked taken off his feet throughout despite the longer trip, but did at least stay on with some purpose up the run-in.  A return to a longer track would likely assist.

HAVE ONE FOR ME’s jumping was not always everything it could have been during his Irish Pointing days, and a sticky round on this debut for Victor Thompson did suggest a particularly heavy fall at Athlacca when last seen eight months ago may still be playing on his mind to some greater or lesser extent.  Like Moscow Blaze, a more galloping line should be entertained, albeit more in the hope of building up a better jumping rhythm in his case.

MR BED BUGS, keen and sweaty early on, gave himself little chance of lasting home.


RACE SIX: 2m4f OPEN MAIDEN
=========================

The concluding short Maiden is a race to have attracted the odd well above-average performer in recent years.  Last season’s victor Bobowen, a success on his sole British Pointing start for owner Don Constable, was a Listed handicap chase second (off 130) within nine months; whilst unlucky 2009 runner-up Monkerty Tunkerty (another to go straight on at the final bend) has of course held higher court in Points and hunter chases since those early days with the Woodhouses.  Time will tell what this year’s intake amounts to, though what much was clear was that a number of these are better than the bare form shown here.

LOUGH INCH, a half-brother to Howard Johnson’s one-time dual Wetherby winner Abstinence, is bred as much for 1m upwards on the level as anything else, but previous attempts around some of Rules racing’s speedier courses for Jonjo O’Neill had promised nary a whiff of victory, even over the minimum trip.  Rarely during that tenure was he able to lead or dispute the lead to quite the same extent as he did here, however, and this victory was essentially that of a happy, confident horse enjoying seeing daylight up front. 

The late wandering off a true line required Sam Davies-Thomas, eight times a scorer during an eventful 2011-12 (which took in doubles at Whitfield and Guilsborough and a smashed-up face at Marks Tey), to become a little more animated up the second half of the run-in, but it would be stretching it to suggest the Jimble gelding was running on empty close home.  The next outing will naturally say more about his ability to stay the full trip, but for the time being at least Lough Inch’s triumph comprised a win at the first attempt for Waltham On The Wolds handler Tom Morgan, son of licensed handler Kevin and boyfriend of Lizzie Harris (best associated with Teeton Dazzler, on whom four of her six career victories have been scored).

MOSCOW MENACE had run into a place on both of his final two outings last term, albeit around far more galloping Northern tracks than this and with a better form effort recorded on his penultimate rather than final outing.  Formbook fears about the suitability of this sharper test were realised when the five-year-old was left around 6l behind the duelling leaders at three out, but a sustained late rally reduced the deficit appreciably without ever quite looking like it would be enough.  Theoretically still young enough to have been developing as a specimen over the summer, he may well be up to seeing out the full three miles better from here on.

RAYNELL would be the horse to have achieved the least among seven half-siblings raced on the Flat previously, perhaps unsurprisingly due to also being the one to have been campaigned over distances furthest removed from the largely sub-1m influence of his damside.  Never out of the leading couple for the first three-quarters of the event, his effort flatlined a touch once the winner was given an inch of rein from two out, and it might be that even around a speedball 2m4f such as Cottenham’s he’ll need keeping under wraps rather longer than was the case here.

There’s a difference between holding on for a late effort and holding on for a limited effort, however, and the running and riding of TOMSTAR particularly exercised the stewards as having in their eyes strayed into the latter sort of territory.  Already some 12-15l detached turning into the straight for the first time, progress on the leaders during the final circuit remained moderate, and there was certainly the perceptible sense that the 24l margin of defeat could have been less.

Hauled in for an explanation, rider Patrick Smith was essentially tried under Regulation 127, where “in the opinion of the Stewards or the British Horseracing Authority, a Rider has intentionally failed to ensure that his horse is run on its merits”; though the more succinct “schooling in public” was uttered over the tannoy when announcement came through of his eventual £90 fine.  Smith’s explanation that Tomstar basically always had too much to do after missing a beat at the start was not accepted by Richard Wilson and his team of Stewards, and the whole episode represented something of a reversal of fortune for the rider at Cottenham, twice a scorer on his last visit to the venue on New Year’s Eve.

On an afternoon where Victor Thompson’s raiding party mostly failed to stay competitive to the very end, MR STINT was fancied by connections as their best chance of victory.  The evidence of a well-held sixth place ultimately suggested that confidence was not well founded, but this is another new recruit to this much-expanded string (believed to stand at 19 for 2012-13) from whom better can yet be expected back on home turf, most likely back up in trip.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

RASEN A FUSS ON THE SMALLEST OF SUNDAYS

In Britain at least, the racing programme on the day after the turf Flat season has come to an end – so three days ago at the time of writing - has been pretty low-key for a while now, and all the more so since the disappearance of yet another non-weekday meeting from the embattled Hereford reduced the number of fixtures at home from three to two in 2011.

Arena Racing Company’s increasing reluctance to preserve Hereford’s weekend and Bank Holiday fixtures would lead one to think that giving up on this raceday (in favour of a vacant Monday slot the day after), plus the activity on the same day of another ARC Group course in the shape of Ffos Las, rather conveniently simplified this particular issue of how to fit quarts into pint pots. 

Not that the two surviving slots would necessarily have been open to rival bids by ARC, or the Hereford executive, or by anyone else at all, for that matter.  Ffos Las’s retention of its respective slot since 2009, and Market Rasen’s for at least a decade now, may hint that theirs were entitlements to race that were locked in and secured to several-year contracts.

If, however, they were not, and anyone was indeed within their gift to outbid the Carmarthenshire and Lincolnshire venues with pledges of better prizemoney, they didn’t make a good enough job of it to influence a change to the established running order - Ffos Las and Market Rasen proceed as before, and this despite, in the case of the latter venue, all bar one race on the card falling below the Horsemen’s Group’s respective tariffs for the race types in question.

Yah, boo and sucks to the tight-wads of the Rasen executive, have come the cries from the Horsemen’s Group, with Group member Rupert Arnold of the National Trainers Federation moved enough in Sunday’s Racing Post to describe the track as a repeat offender where not hitting tariffs is concerned. 

However, whilst there is no refuting that today’s fixture is by no means the only one at the course this year in which un-met tariff numbers have glared out in red print from the pages of the Post’s racecard (its Saturday evening fixture the weekend after the August Bank Holiday was a similarly HG-goading affair), Arnold’s claim as it stands wants for the benefit of context.  Whether Market Rasen’s pledge amounted to a hill of beans isn’t really the point – it was enough.  As Asda regularly beseeches us in its advertising campaigns, “why pay more?”

For a course to be able to run a fixture as markedly sub-tariff as this one, it takes the indifference of other courses to let it; and nowhere is this more evident than on Sundays.  Frequent are the howls from racegoers that British Sundays are mostly bereft of quality, the preserve instead of muck ‘n’ nettles jumps fixtures even at the height of summer.  The likely truth of the matter, however, is that for many Sundays in the year, there isn’t a stack of courses waiting in the wings to try to seize the berths in question. 

The business imperative to host one’s best races on a day of the week where commercial returns aren’t certain to reach the levels of, say, those of a Saturday afternoon fixture, isn’t especially compelling, and all the less so if the same degree of terrestrial television coverage of 24 hours earlier cannot be guaranteed.  Note that even with Ascot, Newmarket, Ripon and – theoretically, at least - Cartmel vying for coverage on Channel 4 on the same day, Market Rasen could secure itself enough of a share of the available airtime for the Summer Plate back on Saturday, July 21st.  A day later, however, the rival action in Britain comprised just Ascot (all class 2 or lower) and Newton Abbot, but no terrestrial cameras were rolling.

Quality does exist in some outposts of the Sunday programme, though, and it’s noticeable that two of Pontefract’s Listed events are now well established as features at Sunday fixtures that regularly attract two of the venue’s three biggest crowds of the year. 

Whether numbers would shrink especially were the Pontefract Castle Stakes and the Flying Fillies’ Stakes to be moved elsewhere in the week is a moot point, however.  From this writer’s own regular patronage of both fixtures in recent years, this municipal course’s relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere, suitability for picnics and weathered Yorkshire red-brick charm (to say nothing of some incongruous, yet very welcome, outbreaks of genuine summer sun) looked to have proven the lure for more attendees than the presence of often penny-number fields to the best races on the respective cards. 

If not quite the stuff of bread and circuses, conversely, Market Rasen will nevertheless continue to chart a different course to the likes of Pontefract, basing instead its business model upon putting up what little prizemoney it requires to on days where frivolous abandon isn’t required, and better rewards at the fixtures requiring them on the days of the week that best suit. 

And what rewards those better rewards are – something Arnold failed to acknowledge in pronouncing on Sunday’s fixture.  The Horsemen’s Group’s prizemoney stipulation for a Listed Saturday-afternoon non-novice chase currently stands at £17,400.  Total prizemoney for the 2012 renewal of the Summer Plate, conversely, stood at £49,185 – that’s £31,785, or 282.67%, better than tariff – on a raceday offering prizes totalling over £120,000.

“Regular offender” or star performer, then?