A cold and wet Charing welcomed owners, trainers and jockeys from across the country on Sunday
where there were a few surprise results. With overnight rain the going was Good to Soft but became
dead as the meeting progressed.
The opening race of the meeting, a 2 mile 4 furlong maiden saw twelve runners and produced the
biggest surprise of the day when Castle Trump, who was priced at 25/1 and is trained by Rob Cundy
for Charles Buckle, ridden by Alex Chadwick got off the mark beating Luke Harvey’s Spanish Jump by
five lengths. Castle Trump had failed to finish on his previous three starts in 2020 but on this
occasion Castle Trump led from the fall of the starts flag until he was joined by Spanish Jump and the
Tom Ellis trained Wireless Operator coming down the hill for the final time. Wireless Operator
blundered at the penultimate fence which left Spanish Jump challenging Castle Trump but Castle
Trump still had extra to give and ran on well to take the victory.
Alice Stevens steered Feuille de Lune to victory in the 2 mile 4 furlong restricted race to win by a
comfortable twenty five lengths. The 7/4 favourite Envious Editor and Sara Bradstock trained
Southfield Lily both looked to be in with a chance of taking the victory with four fences to jump but
both weakened leaving Feuille de Lune clear after the penultimate fence. Envious Editor unseated at
the final fence which left Southfield Lily to take second place.
The men’s open saw eight runners make their way to the starter and at the winning post Gran
Paradiso easily got the better of Golden Tobouggan, Vivaldi Collonges and Workbench. All four were
in with a chance heading to the penultimate fence however on the run to the final fence Gran
Paradiso with Tommie O’Brien in the saddle pulled clear of Golden Tobouggan and finished a clear
fifteen lengths ahead of Golden Tobouggan with Vivaldi Collonges and Workbench close behind in
third and fourth.
Eleven runners made their way to the start for the ladies open including Aintree Foxhunters winner
Cousin Pascal with Gina Andrews on board who led for much of the race. However Back Bar, the
Alan Hill & Izzie Marshall combination tracked Cousin Pascal before making a move coming down the
hill for the final time. Back Bar jumped up beside Cousin Pascal at the penultimate fence and soon
drew clear on the run to the final fence. A good jump by Back Bar at the final fence secured his
victory and was the first part of a double for the Hill / Marshall combination.
Izzie rode her fifty point-to-point winner the previous weekend at Hexham and this victory for Back
Bar was Alan Hill’s three hundred and fiftieth career winner. However the duo were not done for the
day and a similar tactic was employed in the level two conditions race with Izzie aboard the favourite
Getting Closer sitting behind the early leaders Conas Taoi, Scooby and Thomas Junior until taking up
the lead at the penultimate fence. Scooby battled with Getting Closer to the final fence but Getting
Closer pulled away from Scooby to win by four lengths.
The final race of the day was another maiden race. All five runners were tightly bunched as they
approached the completion of their first circuit of the course but Kauto Stinko fell at the eighth
fence reducing the field to four. These four remained grouped together going back up the hill until
Gold Bandit started to weaken leaving the other three runners looking as if they had a chance of
winning as they headed back down the hill to the fourth fence from the finish. However Chasing My
Dream who appeared to be cruising comfortably blundered and unseated his jockey leaving Philip
Rowley trained Outlaw Dream and John Wright trained Longtide the only two in with a chance. Ben
Bromley kicked on aboard Outlaw Dream and soon had a substantial lead over Longtide which
allowed him to ensure safe jumps confirmed the victory.