The first Midlands Area fixture of the season delivered in so many ways. The Cottesmore meeting at Garthorpe attracted a record crowd as well as a double for Gina Andrews, an impressive Open victory, and a rare dead heat.
The substantial rainfall throughout November may have concerned a few, but the old Leicestershire turf of Garthorpe took it incredibly well, producing what Jim Culloty called "beautiful ground", the official going being good to soft, soft in places.
Grandads Cottage, trained by Nicky Sheppard, was the impressive winner of the Saffery Mixed Open, contesting the lead with the Kelly Morgan-trained Potters Party for much of the running, before pulling clear of the rest with two to jump and winning by sixteen lengths. The ten-year-old Shantou gelding, out of Topanoora dam Sarah's Cottage, had five wins under rules for Olly Murphy before returning to the point-to-point track with a mission for the Herbert family
Jockey Milo Herbert said, "Our journey with him is a short one, thus far. We bought him last April. Long story short, neither Herbert boy could get over the sixth fence in the Aintree Foxhunters' and Dad turns to me in the stands when Ivor fell off for the second time and said, 'well, one of you is going to have to get over it. Go and try and find one that can', and he was very generous in letting me do so. Grandad's cottage, bought by Ed Bailey, was the one that, hopefully, we can have another tilt at Aintree with."
The meeting began with a 2m4f mile Maiden for four and five-year-olds sponsored by Witham Hall School, which six horses contested. The locals were supporting Kilaro, ridden by Paddy Barlow in this one, which is owned by one of the meeting's vets, William Bevin, and his wife Louise. Gina Andrews started as the very warm 8/11-on favourite with self-trained The Den Master and looked to be living up to that billing until headed in the finish straight by the 12/1-shot Kilaro who finished very strongly to win by four lengths. Four-year-old Raise You Fifty (Sean O'Connor) also impressed in second, relegating The Den Master to third place. "It was a nice horse two years ago and finished at Charm Park behind Miami Magic and Daytime Dream, obviously Grade One horses now." Paddy Barlow said. "So we always thought a bit of him, and then we were silly, and we ran him at Higham on fast ground, and that was a mistake. He had last year off, but came back and was doing everything nicely at home. He travelled away really well, and I thought we'll go and win it. Whether he will be sold now or whether he keeps working, I don't know."
Gina Andrews' disappointment was short-lived, however, as Loughan romped home to win the Pukka Pies Ladies Conditions, beating favourite Willywonga (Amber Jackson-Fennell) by ten lengths with 9/1-shot Baby Chou (Miss P. J. Brown) a long way behind these.
The Ellis Team quickly followed this up with another win, this time with Iām Spellbound who, although perhaps a little rusty at times, performed well to win the inaugural Jockey Club 0-110 Rated Series qualifier from Badbad Leroy Brown (Cameron Hillhouse) and Secret Cargo (Katie Featherstone).
Gina said, "It's another win under his belt without getting a penalty in an Open race. He thrives off confidence and he obviously didn't run very well in The Horse & Hound Cup at the back end of last season. He can be a bit sticky with his jumping, he goes out to the right. He had a bit of a rough run round today, but he was just better than the others and yeah, he went easy. He's a little bit rusty but he's a really good horse."
After the Mixed Open we saw two good fields competing in both the Restricted and Open Maiden to bring the meeting to a close.
The Dickinson & Morris Restricted Race, with eight runners, saw an impressive win for Jolie Joue to make it back-to-back victories for the progressive four-year-old. George Atkinson followed him home on Driveondonn, having found a good finish in the run-in, with Our Brother John (Izzie Hill) in third for the Hill team.
The last, the Renovation Underwriting Open Maiden Race was another well supported race, with nine starters. Despite Ed Vaughan's mount five-year-old Down The Valley starting as favourite, the final stages came down to a match race between 7/2-shot Meelick Island (Joe Wright) and 4/1 Nice To See You (Izzie Hill) and as they crossed the line the judges were unable to separate them and declared it a dead heat, giving Joe Wright his 100th winner in all forms of racing.
In the Midlands Area we now wait until Saturday the 17th of January for our next fixture, Revesby Races, always a very popular meeting with trainers and racegoers alike. Tickets for are already available for this meeting, which hosts a Novice Riders Series Race and another of the Jockey Club 0-110 Rated Series.