THE novice riders’ race at Grennan provided a double on the day for Paul Power who, having ridden an earlier winner in Red Sunset, trained the successful Bakers Street.

Paul admitted that the latter win was much harder on the nerves. The interesting thing about this win was that it was ridden by Jeannie Cook who was recording her second victory. Jeannie apparently hails from New York and therefore continues a long history of Americans coming to Britain and Ireland to pursue a love of racing over jumps, invariably as amateurs.

One has only to think of Tommy Smith and Charlie Fenwick both Grand National winners in the last fifty years.

While Jeannie may not reach those heights she is a welcome presence in the point-to-point ranks and joins the number of riders from overseas who have featured over the years. Ours is a much more international sport than many people would think.