IT was ladies’ day at Cold Harbour in Herefordshire last Sunday with four of the seven races being won by two female riders.

First of the pair to strike at this Radnor & West Hereford meeting, where there were just 64 entries, was Lorna Brooke who landed the first two races.

She claimed the opening two-runner hunt members’ race on the 1/4 favourite River Purple, owned and trained by her mother Susan, and the following five-runner confined on the Max Young-trained King Willie.

That 11-year-old Desert King gelding was one of four Irish-bred winners on the card, another being the similarly-aged Presenting gelding Castle Cheetah who, in landing the restricted for trainer Emma Alvis, brought up a double for his rider Alice Stevens who had taken the ladies’ open on Joanne Priest’s Chu Chu Percy.

SMALL FIELDS

Just four went to post in the four-mile men’s open for the Crudwell Cup but there was an exciting finish with the Heidi Brookshaw-trained Ballyrath, a nine-year-old Flemensfirth gelding ridden by Huw Edwards, getting the better of the Zac Baker-partnered favourite, Green Winter, by a length and a half.

The market got it right in the concluding four, five and six-year-old maiden where the Thomas Faulker-owned and trained Thomas Crown justified favouritism in the hands of Bradley Gibbs.

Bred by Michael O’Mahony out of the Medicean mare Picture Of Lily, the five-year-old Helmet gelding was winning on his second start between the flags having failed to score in 11 runs on the flat (one as a two-year-old) and eight over hurdles.

The field sizes were better at Dingley where half of the six winners were Irish-bred including The Jockey Club mares open maiden winner You Know The Story who brought up a double for the husband and wife team of trainer Tom Ellis and rider Gina Andrews.

The successful seven-year-old is by Getaway and was bred by Michael and Linda O’Sullivan out of the Snurge mare Kinard True.

The concluding maiden at that Fernie fixture was won by the Jack Wallace-trained, Tom Strawson-ridden favourite Charles Brown, a six-year-old gelding by Vinnie Roe out of the Double Trigger mare, Tigger Dream.

Ground conditions are impacting on field sizes

THE hard ground is having a big effect on point-to-pointing in Britain with small numbers of entries and runners being the order of the day.

There were three meetings on Saturday, April 27th with the biggest fields being at the Eggesford fixture at Upcott Cross where they bucked the trend with eight races, although none had more than nine starters.

Among the three Irish-bred winners was the Ella Pickard-trained Getaround who landed the four, five and six-year-old open maiden by eight lengths in the hands of Bryan Carver. The 2015 Getaway gelding is out of the Act One mare, Playing Around.

There were seven fixtures the following afternoon and at Stafford Cross, where there were seven mainly poorly-supported races, there were eight starters in the four, five, six and seven-year-old maiden won by the Darren Andrews-ridden, Christopher Barber-trained Raise Your Hand, a 2015 gelding by Imperial Monarch out of Midnight Dasie (by Flemensfirth).

Kanturk-born Bryan Carver was on the mark twice at this Axe Vale meeting, winning the intermediate on the Rose Loxton-trained Earth Leader and the restricted on the Gerry Supple-trained Skinflint.

There were eight races at Garthorpe, four won by Irish-bred horses. The quartet included the Joshua Guerriero-trained Wagner, a four-year-old Mahler gelding out of the Sendawar mare Astalanda who scored by 26 lengths under Ed Glassonbury.

British breeders would have been pleased to see that the winners of both divisions of the JRL Group Flat Race for four, five and six-year-olds were won by horses carrying a GB suffix.

The Tivyside meeting at Lydstep concluded with a nine-runner maiden which was won by the Rhian Howells-trained, Wayne Maskill-ridden Caveat Emptor, a six-year-old gelding by Arcadio out of the Oscar mare Castle Supreme.