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PAM
King’s Dunmanus Bay took top honours at the Thurlow meeting at Horseheath on
Saturday, winning the Men’s Open in emphatic fashion from My Best Buddy, with
the favourite Placid Man a well-beaten fourth.
Chevington handler Julie Read, who trains
the grey for her mother, had expressed her concern about running Dunmanus Bay
too quickly after his Marks Tey victory a week ago, but it was a belief of her
late father that persuaded her to do so. “When they’re well, you run them,” had
been Gordon King’s motto.
Dunmanus Bay is likely to have a day’s
hunting in midweek, with Ampton on 12 March his next target.
It was a fifth point-to-point success of the
season, and a 51st overall for jockey Matt Mackley, whose
half-century had come up on this horse seven days earlier.
Anne-Marie Hays, who lives not far from the
Read yard, at Whepstead, saddled her consistent Bush Hill Bandit to take the
Ladies’ Open in the capable hands of last minute stand-in Heather Kemp. Alex
Embiricos, who had been due to take the mount, suffered a recurrence of a back
injury in an earlier race, and suggested to Hays that Oxfordshire-based Kemp
should take over the reins.
Bush Hill Bandit was another who had run at
Marks Tey, although Hays admitted she had been wrong to run him on the soft
going there. He was much more at home on Horseheath’s quicker ground, although
he was all out to hold off Joe Turner’s duo of Militaire, whose jockey Zoe
Turner rode a fine race despite feeling far from well, and The Wiley Kalmuck,
partnered by Kelly Smith.
“Beating one Turner is hard enough,” smiled
Kemp afterwards, “but having two in the same race is even more difficult.”
Alex Merriam, out of luck on Placid Man, won
the Restricted on Punta Cana, owned by his mother Jean in partnership with
Helen Robson, Nicky Turner and Wilf Tolhurst, who trains the seven year old at
Langham, near Colchester. Punta Cana, who had won his maiden on this track
earlier in the month, led turning into the straight and sprinted away to score
by ten lengths from the first-time blinkered Cashari.
Alex’s father Andrew was on a speedboat
while holidaying in Cornwall when he received bloodstock agent Louise
Cooper-Joyce’s phone call from Ireland saying “You must buy this horse!”
Even more clear-cut was the Maiden victory
of Young Lord, who made all the running in the hands of Kilverstone, Thetford,
owner Celia Kemp’s son David to win by a distance. He had tuned up for the contest
by carrying David’s sister Christina in a recent charity race at Fakenham.
Young Lord was off the track with suspensory
damage last year, and he also suffers with chips on a fetlock, so he is, said
connections, “Wrapped in cotton wool and molly-coddled.” He was originally sold
by the Kemps to some owners in their yard, but when it became apparent that he
would not be fit to run in 2005, Mrs Kemp bought him back again.
Montys Tag, who won the Horseheath Hunts’
Club Members on this course on 4 February, repeated the feat for trainer Simon
Andrews and Wymondham-based jockey Nigel Bloom. A future target is the coveted Queen’s
Cup at Fakenham on Easter Monday.
The two remaining races went to Northamptonshire
raiders. Arctic Double, trained by Sam Loggin for Hampshire owner Tim Curtis, took
the Intermediate on a tight rein under Stuart Morris. Arctic Double, who was
making his seasonal debut, was hot favourite, but those punters in the know
were able to get a reasonable early price due to an error in the racecard’s
form guide which had two “pulled-ups” beside his name.
Favourite-backers in the Mares’ Maiden knew
their fate early on when Mai Cure was brought down at the second fence. Victory
went to Dickie Barrett on Teeton Diamond, whose owner-breeder Joan Tice has
enjoyed several successes at the Cambridgeshire track in recent years.
RESULTS
GOING: GOOD.
Race One
(Horseheath Club Members Race): 1 R Andrew's Monty's Tag (Cambs with Enfield
Chace) (N Bloom), 2 M Burman's Parson Humfry Webber (Cambs with Enfield Chace)
(J Owen), 3 Ms A Embriricos' Filous De Bois (Thurlow) (owner). Also: Gallant
Glen (4), Good Vintage (5), Pharbeitfrome (pulled up), Scare Lotte (fell),
Taskmaster (pulled up). Two lengths, a distance. 6.37. W £2.50. DF £3.70. 6-4
fav.
Race Two (Mares
Maiden Race): 1 Mrs J Tice's Teeton Diamond (Pytchley) (R Barrett), 2 Mrs W
Ward's Memsahib Ki Behan (Granta Harriers) (M Mackley), 3 J
Race Three
(Intermediate Race): 1 T Curtis' Artic Double (Farmers Bloodhounds) (S Morris),
2 N Padfield's Lisnagar Hide (Essex) (J Owen), 3 Miss S Miles' Brass Razoo
(Farmers Bloodhounds) (J Newbold). Also: Teeton Prince (4), Hail Stone (5),
Archbishop (pulled up), Ardkilly Warrior (pulled up). Five lengths, half a
length. 6.33. W £3.10. DF £13. SP evens fav.
Race Four
(Ladies Open Race): 1 Ms A M Hays' Bush Hill Bandit (Thurlow) (Mrs H Kemp), 2 J
M Turner's Militaire (
Race Five
(Men's Open Race): 1 Mrs P King's
Race Six
(Restricted Race): 1 W Tolhurst's Punta Cana (Essex and
Race Seven
(Open Maiden Race): 1 Mrs C Kemp's Young Lord (