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ESSEX FARMERS & UNION, MARKS TEY, SATURDAY FEBRUARY 18

Julie Read enjoyed her second victory inside 24 hours as Dunmanus Bay visited the winner’s enclosure for the first time since 2003 at the Essex Farmers & Union Point-To-Point at Marks Tey on Saturday.

Read, from Chevington, near Bury St Edmunds, had teamed up with jockey Matthew Mackley to lift the Walter Wales Cup at Fakenham on Friday with Galway Breeze. And the same partnership was at it again as Dunmanus Bay hit the front a mile from home and proved much too strong for the favourite, Montys Tag, in the Confined Race.

Dunmanus Bay is not the most reliable of characters, but he barely put a foot wrong here and fears that he would be unsuited by the soft ground proved unfounded.

The Hiscox Intermediate Race looked the most competitive of the day on paper and witnessed a superb performance from the seven-year-old, Monarch Ruler. Trained at Raydon near Hadleigh by Rob Cundy for owner George Cooper and ridden by Wymondham’s Rupert Stearn, he made every yard of the running and only ever had one serious challenger, the bookies’ choice, The Noble Roman.

This pair went toe-to-toe throughout much of the final circuit. But Stearn’s mount began to get on top approaching the second last and, paying for his big effort, The Noble Roman forfeited second place to Russian Friend in the closing stages,

Monarch Ruler is related to Cooper’s prolific winner of the eighties and nineties, Carls Choice, and the style of this triumph suggested that he may be able to live up to his fancy breeding.

Mon Esprit, trained and ridden by another Wymondham resident, Nigel Bloom, and owned and bred by Lord Somerleyton, got the better of two other Norfolk horses, Sunyblaze and Golden Shred, to land the Restricted Race.

It was a welcome change of luck for the winning connections as Mon Esprit’s younger brother, the highly promising Montenegro, collapsed and died on the gallops a fortnight ago.

The other East Anglian winner on a hectic eight-race card was Tupgill Turbo, who did not need to be at his best to land the Members Race under Eye’s Alex Merriam.

Trained at Langham, near Colchester, by Wilf Tolhurst and owned by Barry Kennedy, from Woodham Mortimer, near Danbury, Tupgill Turbo barely stays three miles. But stamina was never an issue here as they little more than cantered for the first circuit and a half.

The rest of the card brought two victories for Northamptonshire trainer, Caroline Bailey, who could so easily have been celebrating a treble,

Her first win came in the Men’s Open where Persian Hero produced a fine display of front-running to defeat Black Frost by ten lengths.

She also landed the second of two Maidens with Killeengh Lodge, who slogged through the mud to get the better of Something’s Up. And the other Maiden looked sure to go the way of a third Bailey representative, Donald Will Do, only for this giant gelding to virtually grind to a halt approaching the final fence, allowing Kent raider Funny Money to grab the spoils.

Finally, the Sussex-trained A Few Bob Back may soon be seen in hunter chase company after he gave Camilla Ewart an armchair ride while brushing off his 13 opponents in the Ladies Open.

RESULTS; GOING: GOOD TO SOFT, SOFT IN PLACES.

Race One (Members' Race): 1 B Kennedy's Tupgill Turbo (Essex Farmers and Union) (A Merriam), 2 R Barr's Moss Campian (Essex Farmers and Union) (Miss R Page), 3 D Hays' Cross River (Essex Farmers and Union) (J Owen). Also: Iceni Ruler (4), Skirmishing (ur). Three lengths, a distance. 7.22. SP 5-4 fav.

Race Two (Confined Race): 1 Mrs P King's Dunmanus Bay (Suffolk) (M Mackley), 2 R Andrew's Montys Tag (Cambs with Enfield Chace) (N Bloom), 3 A Chinery's Royal Action (East Essex) (P Chinery). Also: Avalon Buck (4), Good Vintage (5), Philson-Warrior (6), I've No Say (pu), Marmalade Mountain (f), Our Man Friday (pu), Parsonhumfrywebber (pu), Thebigfellow (pu). A distance, 15 lengths. 7. SP 8-1 (Montys Tag evens fav).

Race Three (Ladies' Open Race): 1 Miss C Ewart's A Few Bob Back (East Sussex and Romney Marsh) (owner), 2 Miss J Wicken's Storm Castle (Kent and Surrey Bloodhounds) (owner), The Sporting Endeavour Partners' Tartar Sabre (Waveney Harriers) (Miss L Barrett-Nobbs). Also: Fami (4), Bush Hill Bandit (5), Leatherback (6), Madmidge (7), Pelican Brief (8), Ballystone (9), C L B Jemilla (10), Dampcourse (pu), Father Paddy (pu), Porto (ur), Village Copper (pu). Five lengths, 10 lengths. 7.01. SP 6-1 (Fami 3-1 fav).

Race Four (Intermediate Race): 1 G Cooper's Monarch Ruler (Essex Farmers and Union) (R Stearn), 2 Miss M Samworth's Russian Friend (Quorn) (J Docker), 3 Mrs B Seales and Mrs K Cockburn's The Noble Roman (Warwickshire) (T Ellis). Also: Mai Cure (4), Raging Torrent (5), Sutton Courtenay (6), Archbishop (pu), Ardkilly Warrior (pu), Asthefellowsaid (pu), Castle Road (4), Colonel Conca (pu), Glenmont (pu), Honourable Spider (f). Ten lengths, two lengths. 7.06. SP 6-1 (The Noble Roman 7-4 fav).

Race Five (Men's Open Race): 1 R G Russell's Persian Hero (Pytchley) (J Russell), 2 J M Turner's Black Frost (Suffolk) (J Owen), 3 Mrs F Hawes' Deckie (Suffolk) (D Kemp). Also: Daretobedifferent (4), Little Farmer (5), Christmas Crackle (6), Only Once (7), Ardmayle (8), Baron Bernard (pu), Bunratty Castle (pu), Kald River (pu), No Penalty (pu), Star Glow (pu). Ten lengths, five lengths. 7.06. SP 9-2 (Deckie 5-2 fav).

Race Six (Restricted Race): 1 Lord Somerleyton's Mon Esprit (Dunston Harriers) (N Bloom), 2 Mrs A Vaughan-Jones and G Luck's Sunyblaze (West Norfolk) (A Vaughan-Jones), 3 The Cherry Tree Partnership's Golden Shred (North Norfolk Harriers) (R Morgan-Evans). Also: John The Mole (4), Baron Halebop (pu), Blakes Road (f), Butcher Bayes (ur), Dionysian (pu), Ever So Humbel (pu), Kepi Royal (pu), Usedtobeasweetboy (pu). Five lengths, five lengths. 7.12. SP 7-2 fav.

Race Seven (Open Maiden Race, Division One): 1 J Sarchet and Mrs H Sarchet's Funny Money (Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent) (J Sarchet), 2 J Hilsdon's Donald Will Do (Pytchley) (R Cope), 3 J M Turner's Lanicene (Suffolk) (J Owen). Also: Parzando (4), Absolutely Barking (f), Bold Jogger (pu), Cameroon (pu), Classy Clarence (pu), Combe Castle (pu), Corkscrew King (pu), Deerstalker (pu), Len Ross (pu), Lester Longfellow (ur), Smartypants (f), Taskmaster (ur), Top Boots (pu). Three lengths, a distance. 7.17. SP 7-1 (Donald Will Do 4-5 fav).

Race Eight (Open Maiden Race, Division Two): 1 G Bailey's Killeengh Lodge (Pytchley) (R Cope), 2 Mr and Mrs B Cross's Something's Up (Suffolk) (D Kemp), 3 Miss H Gordon's Mr Ambassador (East Sussex and Romney Marsh) (owner). Also: Beacon White (pu), Buffaventa (f), Catch A Tartar (ur), Classic Additions (pu), Fair Play Man (pu), Homeleigh Meadow (f), Lyric Maestro (pu), Merano (pu), Patrixstar (pu), We Got Him (f). Five lengths, a distance. 7.27. SP 4-1 (Something's Up 2-1 fav).

ENDS