WAVENEY HARRIERS, HIGHAM, SUNDAY JANUARY 13
Going:GOOD
By James Crispe
Previously published in the East Anglian Daily Times and Eastern Daily Press and
copyright Eastern Counties Newspapers
Report
Fog continues to blight the East Anglian Point-To-Point season. At the Waveney Harriers
meeting at Higham yesterday (Sunday), just as at Cottenham seven days earlier, much of the
action was obscured by fog which thickened as the afternoon wore on.
But conditions failed to dampen the enthusiasm of a large crowd, who 'saw' 72 horses
contest seven competitive races.
The best finishes of the day came at the start of the card, before the gloom descended.
And, much like at the 2001 Waveney meeting, they featured fine performances from two
veteran riders.
Michael Valdes-Scott, 58, from Cotton near Stowmarket, rode his own horse, Knockanard, in
the Members' Race and, in a carbon copy of the previous renewal when the margin had been
15 lengths, got the better of Treasure Dome.
This time, however, Knockanard's triumph was harder fought as he was behind his rival
jumping the last of 19 fences before rallying to prevail by two lengths.
George Cooper, who is the same vintage as Valdes-Scott, had a rough time just getting to
the start of the Confined Race with Endeavour, the Nobby Clark-owned ten-year-old who has
carried him to victory in the Intermediate Race here last year.
Endeavour bucked and kicked and unseated Cooper twice during the preliminaries, yet
behaved much better in the race itself, helping Wise Advice force the pace and then only
failing by half a length to overtake Who Am I on the run-in.
The winner was ridden by Wymondham's Nigel Bloom, and is owned by four glamorous girls
including his mother, Jenny, and his wife, Flavia. Asked what instructions she had given
her son in the paddock beforehand, Mrs Bloom senior replied: "Behave yourself, or
we'll jock you off next time!"
The other local victory came in the second of two divisions of the Maiden race when
Lovelock, sharpened up by a solid third at Cottenham, was ten lengths too good for
Pampered Gale.
The first pointer ever owned by William Stone, a wild Boar farmer from Linton, near
Haverhill, Lovelock was trained and ridden by Neil King, who paid a mere £900 for him at
the Doncaster Sales.
Lovelock might not have won at all but for the fall at the fourth last of Sydney Hobart, a
newcomer from the Caroline Bailey yard who carries the colours of Alice Vaughan-Jones's
North Norfolk Group.
Northamptonshire-based Bailey had been on the mark earlier when Imperial Dawn, wearing the
silks of Saffron Walden's Colin Bazley, proved much too good for Gatchou Mans in the
Gerrard-sponsored Ladies' Open.
Jemaro justified a long trip down from Shropshire when running his 11 rivals ragged before
registering a five length success in the Men's Open Race.
Surrey was the destination of the day's other two prizes as Amber Life, trained near
Cobham by the York family, made all in the opening Maiden, and Labula Bay, trained near
Guildford by Chrissie Elliot, emerged from the murk to lift the Intermediate Race.
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Results
Race One (Hunt Race): 1 J Valdes-Scott's Knockanard (Waveney Harriers)
(owner), 2 Mr and Mrs J Whyte's Treasure Dome (Waveney Harriers) (T Lane), 3
Mrs T Arthur and D Parker's Nossi Be (Waveney Harriers) (D Parker). Also:
Boolagh Zorro (pu), Foodbroker Star (pu). Two lengths, a distance. 6.15. W
£2.10. DF £2.10. SP 11-10 (Nossi Be evens fav).
Race Two (Confined Race): 1 Mrs C Barratt's Letshavefun Partnership's Who
Am
I (Dunston Harriers) (N Bloom), 2 D Clark's Endeavour (Essex and Suffolk) (G
Cooper), 3 S Stearn's Sorcerer's Drum (Suffolk) (R Stearn). Also: Wise
Advice (4), Wrekengale (5), Florida Jacko (6), Ajdar (pu), Cinnamon Club
(ur), Spuffington (pu). Half a length, 10 lengths. 6.11. W £3.30. DF £11.50.
SP 3-1 (Sorcerer's Drum 5-4 fav).
Race Three (Men's Open Race): 1 J Beasley's Jemaro (Albrighton) (R
Burton),
2 Mrs F Reynolds, Mrs C Gibbs and Mrs L Arkwright's Noughtosixty (Pytchley)
(R Cope), 3 W Cauldwell's Tubber Roads (Old Berks) (J Diment). Also:
Bowlingher (4), Dixon Varner (5), Adamatic (pu), Cut A Niche (pu), Daringly
(pu), Dockmaster (pu), Dom Samourai (pu), Eden's Close (pu), Win The Toss
(ur). Five lengths, half a length. 6.01. W £28.50. DF £8.50. SP 10-1
(Noughtosixty 4-6 fav).
Race Four (Ladies Open Race): 1 C Bazley and Mrs P Rowe's Imperial Dawn
(Pytchley) (Mrs C Ford), 2 Mr and Mrs A Howland-Jackson's Gatchou Mans
(Suffolk) (Miss V Hayter), 3 Mrs C Ford's Albermarle (Cambridge Univ) (Miss
F Jonason). Also: Celtic Duke (4), Torus Spa (5), General Assembly (6),
Night Thyne (f). Twenty lengths, two lengths. No time taken. W £1.80. DF
£1.20. SP 2-5 fav.
Race Five (Open Maiden Race, Division One): 1 P York's Amber Life (Staff
College) (P York), 2 Mrs P Rowe and C Bazley's He's A Lad (Pytchley) (R
Cope), 3 N Jones' Sound Gossin (E Sussex and Romney Marsh) (A Hickman).
Also: My Glendalough (4), Bavardier (5), Artic Summer (pu), Call The Tune
(pu), Kingfisher Star (pu), Major Blaze (f), Running Bean (pu), Schoodic
Point (ro), Society Scandal (pu), Surprisedly Gifted (pu). Ten lengths, a
distance. 6.08. W £4.20. DF £3.50. SP 3-1 (He's A Lad 6-4 fav).
Race Six (Open Maiden Race, Division Two): 1 W Stone's Lovelock
(Fitzwilliam) (N King), 2 J M Turner's Pampered Gale (Suffolk) (J Owen), 3 K
and G Young and Mrs S Hickman's Lord Surpreme (N Ledbury) (T Stephenson).
Also: Baie Des Singes (4), Mister Chips (5), Porlock Hill (6), Cardinal Cobh
(pu), Company Commander (pu), Erin's Surprise (pu), Le Sorcier
(ur)<CO?????>, Larkus Aurelius (pu), Scotch Bob (pu), Sydney Hobart (f),
Treelo (pu). Ten lengths, head. 6.15. W £15. DF £86. SP 5-1 (Sydney Hobart
7-4 fav).
Race Seven (Intermediate Race): 1 H R Cook's Labula Bay (Staff College)
(D
Dunsdon), 2 E and Mrs J Monck's Fair Ally (Farmers Bloodhounds) (M Baldock),
3 W Tolhurst's Manna Brave (Essex and Suffolk) (C Ward-Thomas). Also:
Gawngadinn (4), Harry Tartar (5), Holiday Time (6), Quick Bowler (7), Tap
The Father (8), Ballinure Boy (f), Rio's Lord (r/o), Tohunga (f), True
Chimes (pu). Two lengths, 10 lengths. 6.15. W £2.70. DF £70. SP 5-4 fav.