Comment

Robert Winston steers Criterion to glory in the Queen's colours at Thirsk. Picture: Alec Russell

ANNA Pavlova, the highest-rated mare in Ryedale, and Utmost Respect, who is aiming to prove himself among this season's top sprinting division, are both on course for next week's opening meeting of the season at York.

The stable-mates, trained at Malton by Richard Fahey, are both ground-dependent, and, while most of the rest of us are praying that warm, sunny weather has finally arrived, Fahey is keeping his fingers firmly crossed for rain between now and the start of the York action next Wednesday.

Anna Pavlova, who has already had one wasted trip this season to France, where she was withdrawn on the morning of her intended target because of unsuitable ground, is set to contest the Yorkshire Cup.

As for Utmost Respect, impressive winner of the Ayr Silver Cup last autumn, and a horse who barely broke sweat to make a successful reappearance at Thirsk last month, he is to make the sizeable step out of handicaps to tackle the Group 2 Duke Of York Stakes.

"I'm not totally convinced that Utmost Respect is purely a soft-ground horse, but he obviously goes well on it, as his career record shows," says Fahey. "But I wouldn't run Anna unless there's a mention of soft' in the ground description. If it were heavy ground, it would even better for her; she loves the mud."

The chances are that Anna Pavlova will be retired to the paddocks at the end of the season. "Our one objective this year with her will be to try to win a Group 1 race with her somewhere along the way, at home or abroad. She won a Group 2 in Longchamp last October and has been an absolute super-star. She deserves to be a Group 1 winner before she finishes," said Fahey.

The Musley Bank trainer is under no illusions that Utmost Respect faces a daunting test as he steps up in class.

"He's a very talented horse, but he'll need to be very talented from now on because he's going to play with the big boys," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him run in Group-race company, but whatever he does this year, it won't be until next season that he'll be the finished article."

Extraterrestrial, owned by York businessman Graham Paver and ridden by Paul Hanagan wins Thirsk's big race, the Totescoop6 Thirsk Hunt Cup, last Saturday. Picture: Alec Russell

Leading trainer at York for the last two seasons, Fahey has a whole load of runners ready to go to Knavesmire for the three-day fixture.

"I like York, my owners like it, and there's suitable races there for lots of my horses. We'll be busy enough next week," said Richard, who this week, on the opposite side of the Pennines, was bidding to land his second successive Chester Cup with Greenwich Meantime in Wednesday's showpiece race.

Fahey certainly has his string in fine form. At Thirsk last Saturday, he captured the Thirsk Hunt Cup with Irish recruit Extraterrestrial, who gained a handsome win under Paul Hanagan to provide York owner Graham Paver with a memorable - and timely - victory.

A pre-planned party the following night on York racecourse celebrated Graham's 50th birthday, his mother's birthday, and his retirement from the family business. Extraterrestrial gave him one more reason for celebration after his stylish 4-1 success.

Paul Midgley is another trainer eyeing up next week's York meeting as a possible target for Dispol Kylie, who made it two out of two for the season with a battling success at Thirsk last Saturday.

Cheaply-bought as a yearling she might have been, but Dispol Kylie certainly has precocious talent and she followed-up her Doncaster debut success by beating four previous winners at Thirsk, again given every assistance by Jamie Moriarty, who has struck-up a successful association this season with Midgley.

The Westow trainer said; "We learned more about her at Thirsk than at Doncaster, and you'd have to say coming out on top over four other previous winners was a good performance. We'll have to step her up in class now, and we'd be looking at two Listed races, one at York next week and the Hilary Needler Trophy at Beverley later in the month."

Earlier in the week, Midgley had produced Toby Tyler - another of his juveniles - to make a winning debut at Pontefract, also ridden by Moriarty.

Although Midge' describes Toby Tyler as "the biggest, ugliest sod you've ever seen" when he bought him for bargain-basement money at the yearling sales, he's starting to look at him a bit differently now! "He's got ability, he gallops and he's straightforward. He'll be even better over six and seven furlongs further down the line," said Paul, whose attraction to Toby is clearly growing!

Holidays beckon for Gypsy George, who crowned a successful season over fences with a convincing success in the valuable Totepool Handicap Chase at Uttoxeter last Saturday.

Carrying the colours of Easingwold owner, Michael Thuey, the Tim Walford-trained seven-year-old picked-up a first prize of more than £19,500 after scoring by almost three lengths in the hands of his trainer's jockey-son Robert.

Walford had toyed with the idea last month of finishing Gypsy George for the season, but, mindful of the wet spring and the horse's liking for soft ground, he kept him going with this race in mind.

"It had started to dry out and wasn't his ideal ground - he prefers it softer - but he got away with it," said the delighted Sheriff Hutton trainer. "He's a talented horse and a clever jumper. That's definitely it for the season now and he's going on his summer holidays. He's a real stayer and next season he'll be trained with the Welsh Grand National in mind."

Captain Gerrard, who christened Norton jockey Tom Eaves' new association with Hambleton trainer Bryan Smart last autumn by winning the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot, came up trumps again at Newmarket on Sunday with a stellar victory in the Palace House Stakes.

Owned by Pocklington-based Reg Bond, the super-fast colt, now the winner of six of his eleven starts, was ridden to a narrow victory by Eaves, who, although found guilty of breaching the whip rules, rode a superb race on this top-notch sprinter.

Plans for Captain Gerrard are likely to revolve around major five furlong showpieces, with the Nunthorpe Stakes at York in August as his prime target. Further exciting times are surely ahead for his connections.

What a difference a year makes.

This time last season, Robert Winston was in the throes of a 12-month suspension from riding, which lasted until February of this year. Since returning to the saddle, he has been riding like a man possessed, and last Saturday at Thirsk, he pulled an unlikely victory straight out of the jaws of defeat aboard Criterion, trained by Sir Michael Stoute and owned by whom? None other than Her Majesty the Queen.

Tim Easterby was also among the winners at Thirsk. There was, alas, no Royal connection with Jonny Lesters Hair, who is owned by the Habtons Baggie Rams, a group, which includes Jonny Lester, whose untidy mop underneath his flat cap gave rise to the horse's name!

That said, the horse did the business under David Allan, landing some tidy bets in the process, as he led from start to finish to post a 4-1 success for his delighted owners.

Bernard Shaw, who, as an owner, has been associated with Ryedale stables for more than 30 years, has written a book about his life - a 72-page skip down memory lane, all in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Now in his 80s, Beverley-born Shaw reminisces about his schooldays, his colourful stint in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, his life as a successful farmer, after setting out with just a four-acre field, and how he and his late wife, Milly, enjoyed such far-reaching success as owner-breeders.

His first winner was with Molly's Lad, trained by Peter Easterby in 1977, but his best-known horses were Smart Predator and Smart Hostess, both multiple-winning sprinters, trained by John Quinn, just a few years ago, and both home-bred from She's Smart, herself a three-times winner. Last year at Beverley, the Shaw colours were carried to victory by Handsome Falcon, trained by Richard Fahey.

"As I Remember It' by Bernard Shaw, is, according to the author, a tale of "lighthearted reminiscences with tragic interludes", a reference to losing a son and a daughter at an early age, and, later in life, his beloved wife Milly.

Having paid all the printing and publishing costs of his little book, Bernard has pledged all the proceeds from sales to Cancer Research UK, a charity close to his heart. At a cost of £3.99, you can buy a copy at Leefe's Bookshop, Market Place, Malton.

Steve Boggett, who died last August, aged 59, was a popular member of the racing Press in North Yorkshire for some 30 years.

Based at Skewsby, near Hovingham, Steve was a race-reader for Raceform for 17 years and spent a further 12 years on the staff of the Sporting Life as a race-analyst and racecourse reporter. He was also a long-standing columnist for the Sporting Life Weekender.

Come Saturday evening at Thirsk, Steve will be especially fondly remembered. Thanks to the Horserace Writers and Photographers Association, and his former colleagues in the north, a race will be staged in his honour. His widow, Judy will be on hand to present the winning trophy and many of his family and friends will be on the course to support the Steve Boggett Celebration of Life Handicap, a fitting acknowledgement to a good and genuine man.

2:39pm Thursday 8th May 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login