WITH BLUESCAPE, CHUBB IS KIMBLE'S KING OF THE CASTLE

On my first covering Kimble’s Easter meeting in 2010 (when still badged as Vale of Aylesbury with Garth & South Berks), this splendid old line was still only the fourth oldest active pointing course of all of those in operation.

By the time I revisited it in 2019, it was the second oldest.

Another six years on, and this 113-year-old course is now the undisputed doyen of those that survive, such has been the sport’s continued retrenchment in the interim.

Nothing should be taken for granted nowadays, therefore, not when even places always previously assumed deathless such as Upton-on-Severn and Balcormo Mains resolve to the sound of pounding hooves no longer.

Nevertheless, Kimble has more in its favour than most where its continued survival is concerned – an enormous catchment area for potential racegoers from Oxford to north and west London, Buckingham to Bracknell, and all points in between; no threat to the racing line of any active or proposed building work (the new Arabella Park housing estate off the Kimblewick Road approach to the course amounts to little); a meeting executive prepared to guard the Easter Saturday racing date like treasure (much like their counterparts at the North Staffordshire and Woodland Pytchley); and a clerk of the course in former pointing rider Graham Tawell forever prepared to put in a herculean shift to guarantee a fine racing surface even in the most trying of circumstances.

And trying those circumstances had surely been in the run-up to the meeting on Easter Saturday just past, the prevailing drying conditions and (perceptibly on raceday itself) a brisk wind counteracting the best efforts of three bowsers’ worth of constant watering, and scotching hopes of producing allover good ground.

Even so, that sustained effort had removed all spite from a surface unarguably on the fast side in places, but at the same time both unequivocally safe and a credit to all concerned.

Despite a respectable turnout for the pony races preceding the pointing action, there must have been worries that Tawell and team’s labours would go unrewarded when the opening veteran horse conditions race failed to attract a single runner from the entry of eleven.

As a lover of those occasional wonderful horses able to defy anno domini well beyond the norm, I naturally harboured disappointment at not having got to see 17-year-old Southfield Theatre in action. Equally naturally, however, one suspects that disappointment paled next to that of those with a fair bit more riding on the fixture not descending into the levels of ignominy suffered by Tabley or Garthorpe in recent weeks than I.

(Whether they would have found any comfort in the fact that the more high-profile Lady Dudley Cup meeting at Chaddesley Corbett would also need to void a race on its own undercard an hour later is moot).

A seven-strong turnout for the following maiden (from an entry of just nine) served as the perfect response - a vote of confidence in the racing surface, and a line-up not short of animals representing respected and longstanding owners, from the Hemmings estate to Charles Dixey to eventual winning owner Chubb Castle.

It’s only weeks shy of two decades since erstwhile permit-holder Castle last collected a race under Rules, homebred Monty Be Quick tiptoeing past hapless rivals to register a complete boilover in a Towcester maiden chase in May 2005.

There have been two successes for Castle between the flags with other homebreds (each trained by Bradley Gibbs) these past couple of months alone, however; cult pointing hero Doctor Kingsley’s niece Ask Elli recording a fitting success in late February over the Kingston Blount line that Castle himself had co-designed 44 years prior, followed by Bluescape defying her Flat pedigree in compiling an assured round of jumping under first-time winning rider Harry O’Dwyer this afternoon.

No further contest on the day matched this one for numbers, and few threatened to, but a walkover or worse was avoided in each; and that the day’s fastest time was recorded in the two-runner Restricted tells no lie about how uncharacteristically, pleasingly strongly run a race that was by the standards of most matches.

It was a proper case of no quarter asked, none given, then, and with the short-priced favourite’s successful crossing of the final fence, there came additionally a perfect opportunity for commentator and professional linguist Mike Crolla to afford himself a nice bon mot – “Elle Est Beau… elle est bon”.

Keeping a crowd with a greater share of casual, once-a-year attendees entertained and informed throughout is a job in itself, all the more so when there are comparatively few horses to have to discuss. Chapeau, therefore, to Mike, whose talents were of course already widely known and appreciated in the South Midlands Area before now (q.v. the Lord Ashton of Hyde gig at Cocklebarrow, plus Siddington and Mollington).

Hats off also to Lawney Hill, who, increasingly consummate with a microphone in hand (a legacy perhaps of those fine Racing TV performances), put in a tireless shift in explaining race conditions, penalties, allowances and recent form clearly and accessibly to all present, and doubled up as post-race interviewer.

A double on the day for the Hills, courtesy of stablemates and apparent best buddies I K Brunel (beating a revitalised Samtara) and Soldier Unknown, appealed as ample reward for such services rendered, whilst giving rise also to the slightly surreal scenario of Lawney interviewing daughter-in-law rider Izzie subsequently.