Wolsingham Show
Frisco Jenna - winner of heat and final at Wolsingham Show in front of a bumper crowd. As highlighted by many people in the North East of England, this show is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our sport as there are thousands of spectators present. Frisco Jenna spent a very short time with us and I found her to be a very willing mare to work with. After her impressive win at York which provided Jordan Heath with his first driving win on UK soil, she was really on form when taking both the heat and the final with Vicky Gill on board.
A big mention also to the old-timer Afan Romeo who won the top heat with John Nicholson. I have loved watching this horse race and he is as genuine as the day is long. I gave him a good shout coming down the stretch!
My one sticking point of the entire day was the attitude of the Show President, who coincidentally used to be the BHRC Chairman at one time. Bearing in mind that the racing was advertised to begin at 15:30, this was subsequently delayed to 16:00 due to another exhibition in the main ring (which was also the racetrack) running over. At 16:00, the exhibition was over but the horses involved were being cooled down on the racetrack. All racehorses, trainers and drivers were ready to go in the paddock. The large crowds were beginning to thin because it was not announced that the harness racing was due to begin. I felt this was a perfect opportunity to get the horses out to warm up and capture peoples' interest. A lot of people were already approaching the bookmakers to ask what we were all doing there.
With this in mind, I ventured to the Show office to ask when the racing would be starting. At first, I was advised that the horses needed to loosen up, which would take roughly 20 minutes. Then they would be able to start racing. I explained that I am familiar with harness racing, but that I had concerns that the crowd was leaving because the racing was delayed. I was then directed to the President. I explained, again, that there was a missed opportunity occurring as we spoke, as people were leaving whilst the racehorses were unnecessarily being held in the paddock whilst other horses were walked around the track to cool down (which could have been done on the in-field). I felt that this was a golden ticket for us to showcase our beloved sport. The President cut me off, and told me he used to be the BHRC Chairman. I told him that was nice, but would it be possible to get the horses onto the track to warm up whilst some of the crowd were still there? He then told me he didn't need my help in running a successful show, he'd been doing it for years. I left it at that. I've met enough people like that and I don't need to be spoken to condescendingly anymore.
Racing was good, we got the product out to a decent-sized crowd. Could have been bigger.
Haugh Field
As mentioned above, a tragic accident occurred and therefore the meeting was run under an enormous cloud.
That said, I was incredibly proud of my good friend George Carson who enjoyed much success 12 months earlier at this fixture when winning two heats of the low grade handicap with Valentine Camden and Country Major, before going on to win the final with 'Val'. This year, he won the first heat of the low grade handicap with Sunnyside Clinton, before winning the second with GDs Baby. Driver Willie Drysdale had a quickfire treble when winning the third heat with Lady Mary (presenting him with somewhat of a dilemma of which horse to drive in the final). He chose Sunnyside Clinton, and it proved to be the right decision when winning the final, making it two years in a row for trainer George.
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| Sunnside Clinton & Willie Drysdale (Bill Cardno photo) |
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| Winning connections (Bill Cardno photo) |
Camden Rocco was an impressive winner of the high grade final for trainer Eck Taylor and driver William Greenhorn.
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| Camden Rocco & William Greenhorn (Bill Cardno photo) |
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| Winning connections (Bill Cardno photo) |
Well done to all winning connections.
Following on from the terrible incident which happened, the Wallace family have been fundraising to purchase a defibrillator to be used at harness racing fixtures and so far have raised over £4000. If anyone would like to donate, you can do so here.
Peter Wallace was known by everybody. He was always there. Unwaivering in the support of his daughters and all of their horses, and of harness racing. It is testament to how well thought of he was that the harness racing community reacted in such a way as we all did, with drivers at Stanhope Show wearing black armbands, and the joint-winning driver of the Crock of Gold wearing a hi-vis yellow armband as a nod to Peter's famous hi-vis jacket which he was rarely without. You didn't need to know Peter, to know him. He was a harness racing stalwart. He will be missed by so many people, but none more so than his two daughters, Anna and Katey, and wife Carolynne.
RIP Peter. One of harness racing's own.
Over and out,
#1 Groom
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