Daniel Kyne and Rob Varnham had a successful day at Parham on March 26th with two victories from their two combined runners on the day. Their first victory came in the level two conditions race with Count Simon who was one of the four runners who headed to the starter. Count Simon who was the 1/2 favourite was sitting behind the early leader, Cooladerry King from Hannah Grissell’s yard until Cooladerry King unseated at the fourteenth fence leaving Count Simon and Hannah Clarke trained Shanoule Wood to battle it out after Simon Stearn’s Cereal Killer had pulled up. By the penultimate fence, Count Simon had a six length advantage over Shanoule Wood, a solid jump at the final fence by Count Simon saw him extend his advantage over Shanoule Wood to ten lengths by the time he passed the winning post and record his second success from only two starts in point-to-points.
Daniel and Rob had to wait for the final race of the day for their second victory, which went to Tangoed who was sent of the 5/4 joint favourite of the six runners alongside Doldido from John Ayton’s stable. The same tactics were deployed with Tangoed as Count Simon with the nine year old mare sitting behind Whatsinthecorner until the fourteenth fence where both Tangoed and Doldido took up the running. The pair battled side by side until jumping the penultimate fence where Tangoed was asked to move up a gear and opened up an advantage over Doldido before the final fence.
The meeting was a good day for favourite backers with 5 races being won by the favourite. The exception to this being the INEOS Grenadier Mixed Open which was won by Who’s My Jockey ridden by Charlie Marshall who was always prominent throughout the race and held off the challenge of the favourite Midnight Cowboy ridden by Rupert Stearn from James Owen’s yard to win by half a length. Who’s My Jockey trained by Hannah Clarke for The Glebe House Racing Club is a half-brother to Hurricane Fly who had won a national hunt bumper in February 2021 at Newcastle and then won a 3 mile national hunt chase at Hexham in 2019. He has definitely had the class to win a point-to-point but had failed to complete on three of his previous four starts, but looked to be in control at Parham.
Charlie Marshall and Rupert Stearn had a similar tussle in the Jockey Club & Retraining of Racehorses Veteran Horse Conditions race but Stearn got his revenge as he guided Just Cause to success whilst Charlie Marshall had to settle for second aboard Tim Underwood’s Cheltenham Mati. Just Cause made all in the race and did have Cheltenham Mati on his tail until the fifteenth fence where Just Cause drew clear and remained unchallenged.
The opening race of the day was the restricted race which saw Buachaill Dana follow up his maiden victory at Kingston Blount for Ashford based trainer David Phelan beating his two rivals Big Dawg from Pam Tetley’s yard and Nigel Padfield’s Direct Flight.
The most dramatic race of the day was the maiden race in which only two of the seven runners completed. The incidents started early in the race when Tim Underwood’s Broomfield Boy unseated his jockey Oliver Timms at the third fence and in doing so hampered Tom Gretton’s Pretty Fantasy who also managed to deposit her jockey Oliver Boydon onto the floor. The remaining five runners successfully continued until fence twelve (open ditch) where David Phelan trained No Peace From Him was a faller leaving Justin Morgan trained Lucky Purchase with George Gorman in the saddle leading with Nigel Padfield’s Howitsdone(Murray Dodd) and Steve Spice’s Jasmin des Bordes (Seb Mead) close behind and Timothy O’Callaghan’s Max The Brave slightly detached. The leading trio remained grouped together until turning up the hill for the final time with two fences to jump at which point Howitsdone and Jasmin des Bordes were side by side with Lucky Purchase six lengths further back. Howitsdone and Jasmin des Bordes were still side by side heading to the final fence and a thrilling finish looked to be on the cards. However Jasmin des Bordes got in a bit too close to the final fence and fell leaving Howitsdone clear of his nearest rival Lucky Purchase. Adding to the drama, Max The Brave who was trying to complete for third also fell at the last fence.