2018: A Year In Review - Part 2

Oh so you came back for some more?

*thought I'd gotten away with that for a minute...*

July

The second of the four 'crown jewel' meetings saw most of the country head to the Welsh coast for what was rumoured to be (and has subsequently been confirmed as) the last staging of the Ceredigion two day festival at Aberystwyth.  This is a particular favourite with Scottish harness racing fans, mainly for the good weather, the great welcome and the better nightlife.  For us the weekend began with bitter disappointment as we had Stevie primed for an assault on Welsh turf, however Mr Self-Destruct had different ideas and a freshly-mangled leg put us out of the game only a couple of days before leaving.

Somehow I found myself on post-race interview duties again, although this time laid off the alcohol (purely because I was struggling to cope in the heat and also because I needed a clear head in order to carry off the fetching high-vis vest I was forced to wear to reduce the risk of being run over by horses...).

My Buddy delivered a popular Welsh win for owner/trainer/driver and postman (come ONNNN) Alan Jones in the Group 2 Travis Perkins Final, whilst the Laidlers returned to winning ways on the big stage with former stakes-sensation Springhill Glory landing the Group 1 Park Lodge Final.

#Squadgoals - with some of the crew at Aberystwyth

The Star Makers Final was staged at Tir Prince in the middle of the month, and although we had qualified Al Jolson for the event, an injury put him out for the season so we had no vested interest in the race.  Looking at it with an open mind it looked a highly competitive race, and it was the Jones family's Father Ted who landed the spoils on the night.  Despite stating that he would run a lap in only his underwear if the horse won, owner/trainer/driver Marc failed to live up to his promise...the jury is out as to whether we were cheated or secretly blessed!

Whilst we were bringing Dark Velvet, Rita & Denver home from Wales, Rodney Camden from the Foody stable was dominating at Wolsingham when winning the Joy Robson Memorial Final.

Towards the back end of the month the third 'crown jewel' fixture was staged at Musselburgh and it was a popular Scottish victory in the Group 2 Hurricane Pace Final on day one as the Gilvear family's Someones Fantasy toughed it to run out a gutsy winner.  The second day saw a Musselburgh queen return to the winner's circle as 2017 Hurricane Pace Final winner Rhyds Passion won both her heat and the coveted Group 1 Famous Musselburgh Pace Final in very impressive fashion.  I didn't think I could love her more after this day...but as the season progressed so did she!

Rhyds Passion & James Haythornthwaite cruising to victory in the Famous Musselburgh Pace Final (Bill Cardno photo)

OK I'm done talking about everyone else's July.  Especially when July was my month.  Well, not so much mine, more Elmo's.  After my co-owner Smarty tried to convince me to swap the horse for some semen (not the semen again) at Aberystwyth because he didn't think he'd turn into much, I remained firm in the face of adversity.  With Stevie nursing a mangled leg and Al scratched for the remainder of the year, on July 12th I joked that if Elmo Hanover was my stable star then it really showed how bad my stable was.  I arranged for one of the gaiting straps to snap at a convenient moment in the race to act as a deterrent for horses to get close to my pacing camel (disclaimer: I'm kidding, it happened BY ACCIDENT), and it worked.  We recorded win #1 with the mighty Elmo and boy did it feel gooooooood.  It wasn't graceful, but it didn't need to be.  My boy finally knew what winning felt like and I wanted him to remember that feeling in the hope that he might actually do it again.  And he did, just 2 weeks later at Corbiewood once again.  He also came SOOOOO CLOOOOOOSE to creating uproar at Musselburgh as he was just beaten by another Scottish horse, All Smiles from the Mackenzie stable.  I was stood with his previous owner as he came romping like a camel on an escape mission from a desert tour towards the finish line and the only thing that would have been better than the look on his face in that moment would be the look on his face if he'd actually won.  I may have been scraping him off the floor.  All of this was sufficient to secure Elmo the SHRC Horse of the Month award for July.  I hope you can feel the pride that is emanating from me as I write that.

After win number one - PROUD OWNER! (Annette Sproul photo)

August

On Scottish soil, former Scottish Horse of the Year Starzapan came to the fore at exactly the right moment to win the Greentree Standardbreds Mares Pacing Series Final for all at Trackside Racing Stables.  It was a delight to hand over the trophy to Mrs Mackenzie, the First Lady of Corbiewood and a woman all of us look up to (despite her diminuitive stature), whose son, Ally, trains the mare and whose grandson, Stuart, drove the mare to victory.

The First Lady of Corbiewood, Mrs Mackenzie, being presented with the trophy

My first foray out of Scotland in August came by way of the VDM weekend at Portmarnock, Dublin.  I had somehow landed the job of conducting some pre-race and post-race interviews alongside Darren.  I got to spend some quality time with my spirit sister Heather Vitale and I also met Heather and Mike Wilder for the first time, even interviewing Mike after a winning drive on the Sunday.  This meeting proved to be very beneficial when Smarty and I ventured across the Atlantic to the States later in the year.  Evenwood Sonofagun defied logic to overcome his rivals in the FFA and it was a brilliant Scottish win for the Gilvear family once again as their 2YO Northern Pride netted top honours in the VDM Colts Final.
 

Big Burd & Boots on tour at the VDM Weekend in Portmarnock, Dublin

Team Haythornthwaite reigned supreme at Bells Field in Scotland as the Fletcher's Tommy Camden won the Group 2 main event, whilst at the opposite end of the country on the same day Ayr Musketeer and Jaimie Davies took out the Group 2 Boughrood Final in Wales.  We had a 'mare at Bells Field as Stevie ran out on the paddock bend, broke, yet still got up for second to secure a place in the final.  Elmo, despite appearing to like the stiffer, staying style of racing, wasn't 100% and it showed as he trailed in mid-field.  Personally Bells isn't my favourite track to race at and I feel as though I've given it a fair go.  I wish Boughrood was closer, or not on the same day, as I'd rather be there in all honesty.

The fourth and final 'crown jewel' fixture at Tregaron was the best its been in recent years.  Wins for my friends the O'Neil family (with Ayr Treasure) and Emma Langford (with Camden Pro) went down a storm as I showed blatant disregard to the long drive home by getting drunk in the beer tent with friends from Ireland.  I joined Tim Kelleher, Barry 'Pinno' Pinnington and Darren Owen for a lively interview panel across both days, with Tim asking me (whilst under the influence in the beer tent) if my opinions really were my own, as they were 'quite good...for a girl'.  He's lucky he's got Irish charm, or I could take offence at that...Father Ted (of Star Makers Final fame) won the Strata Florida Final on the Friday and Teatime Preacher (of record-breaking maiden fame earlier in the year) landed the Welsh Classic Final on the Saturday to add another Group 1 to the Laidlers' haul for the year.

The point at which I decided Smarty could drive the full 7 hours home...and no, I don't know why Tim is on a chair.

From Tregaron we returned to the last event of the season at Appleby, with less fortune than we'd had on our previous visits with Stevie.  A third-placed effort in his heat got him a spot in the final but it wasn't to be and with hindsight we should have managed his campaign slightly better at that stage in the season.  We live and learn.  Team Laidler absolutely nailed Appleby in 2018, landing all four of the finals there as Merrington Checkm8 became the final piece in a successful jigsaw when winning the Brough Final.

Our last adventure of the month saw Smarty, George [Carson] and I head south to Kilnsey Show with Elmo and Sunnyside Clinton.  We were luckless on the day, but it spawned an idea which would see us drive on a 10+ hour round trip to the depths of Staffordshire just over a week later with the same team on board...the rest, as they say, is history.

Elmo (left) & Clinton...if only we knew what was on the horizon...

September

After having been reliably told by the Gaffer on Elmo's last start at Corbiewood that I wouldn't win another race with him because he didn't 'want to race', Smarty, George and I set off to Longnor.  I needed one more win in order for Smarty's infamous bet with Elmo's previous owner to pay off; with Cassius having notched up two wins at Pikehall and Bells Field, both horses were on two wins apiece.  Cassius found himself out for the season after Bells due to being sore so it was all eyes on Elmo.

None of us had ever been to Longnor before.  Smarty had found videos on Youtube of previous meetings there to get some sort of idea of the type of thing we were letting ourselves in for; and everybody else who had ever been before told us it would be like nothing else we had ever encountered.  A slight technical hitch with the box meant that we had an unscheduled pit stop at a garage near Penrith (thanks to Google for helping us find a garage and to the mechanic for fitting us in and ordering a replacement part at such short notice - Clinton and Elmo spent the guts of an hour walking around an industrial estate and looking at sheep), but after the initial hiccup we managed to find Longnor with plenty of time to spare, which meant George and Smarty were able to walk the track before racing began and get a feel for what was in store.

A total lack of phone signal meant that for the next few hours we were living in a tiny bubble alongside some other hardcore harness racing enthusiasts - bearing in mind this was a Thursday afternoon and the only reason I wasn't in work was because I had booked the day off to go to Glasgow to see a band called 'Striking Matches', however they had cancelled the gig the week before which paved the way for this trek to Longnor.  'What's for you won't go by you', so the saying goes, and it's right.  On that day we were meant to be at Longnor.

For anyone reading this not acquainted with the handicap system, there exists an allowance or 'lift' of 10 or 20 yards for C Class (or novice) drivers depending on how many wins they have amassed.  The purpose of this is to encourage trainers to allow inexperienced drivers to drive for them, particularly on horses who would benefit from being brought back down a grade or 2 to be more competitive.  As Elmo was a Grade 1 (the lowest open handicap grade), he could not benefit from any lifts, and despite there being A Class drivers available in Elmo's race at Longnor, we still chose to put George (a C Class driver) on board.  The reason I am making this point is simple: whilst there was a sizeable bet at stake, and decent prize money on offer which would make the long journey far more bearable, the ultimate purpose of having Elmo to begin with was to have fun.  There seemed nothing more fun than letting our enthusiastic friend get involved.  We chose to put up a C Class driver with 2 career wins to his name over far more experienced drivers who were available, for no obvious benefit to ourselves.  The benefit, which was obvious to Smarty and I, was that it made George part of the team and part of the fun.  If you can't enjoy your hobby with like-minded friends, you're probably doing it wrong.

Long story short (but I'll post the video further down) is that despite a slightly hairy moment on the last two bends where I thought George and Elmo were going to get hooked up with long time leader Rhyds Gambler and James Haythornthwaite on their inside, as Wellfield Ginger and Sarah Allen mounted their challenge to their outside, Elmo and George won.  Win number 3.  The long drive, the breakdown, the wet weather which saw me rummaging around the back of the box to find a very unflattering pair of orange high vis overalls to keep me dry was all worthwhile.

Not 15 minutes later George was back out on the track with Sunnyside Clinton, a horse he was training for one of his owners, and he made it a quickfire double with a performance that could only be described as a procession as he led from pillar to post.  In the space of half an hour George had doubled his lifetime tally of winning drives.

We were able to enjoy the interim races between the heats and final before I had to prep my catch driver, Richard Haythornthwaite.  George was obliged to drive Clinton due to being his trainer, and with only one driver at the track who hadn't driven a horse to qualify for the final, Richard was my man (well technically his father Alan hadn't either, but he had decamped to the beer tent long before the rain had blown over).  For the last few years I have supposedly been acting as an unofficial agent for Richard, however never given him a drive on a horse of my own.  I don't think he expected his first drive for me to be on the mighty Elmo, a horse who up until that day drew more disparaging comments than complimentary.  The advice was simple - keep chasing him, do not let him switch off.  All of us at the box felt that Clinton had the strongest chance of winning, so I told Richard that in an ideal world he could finish second to George.  My parting words were 'but y'know, try to win'.

Elmo had slightly different ideas to us about racing and tried to mount an escape bid back off the track just before the off, so I found myself inside the track as the race began having walked him around in a circle as the starter began to get them under orders (think of it as being an outrider, but without the horse...like an 'outwalker').  I was alone for the race, bar a steward stood about 15 feet away from me, and had to go through the motions of trying to figure out if my horse was travelling well enough to be in the mix at the business end all by myself.  As they passed the crowd at the start of the final lap I could see Richard giving him a proper shake of the reins and he didn't look like he was going to find anything...then commentator Peter Deighton used a phrase which will stay with me forever - "can Richard conjure up a run with Elmo Hanover?  And he is doing, he's cutting him back all the time! Elmo Hanover - just look at him go!"

As they turned off the last bend and I realised that Elmo was actually going to win the final, I'm not ashamed to say I found myself on my knees and totally overcome with emotion.  The emotion was mainly shock and disbelief, but shortly afterwards it was replaced by the greatest sense of pride.  My 'Hopeless Hanover', the horse my other half tried to get me to swap for 'as many straws as you can get, but try for 6', the horse my stable driver told me was 'useless', the horse my future father-in-law told me only 2 weeks earlier wouldn't win another race that year...he won heat and final, two trophies, the most prize money I've ever won in one day and a sportsman's bet, all in one go.

You'll possibly never have seen anything like it, but you can watch both races here.

Winner Winner!

In other news throughout September, Mayfellden Hetty netted the Laidlers yet another final at Wolsingham Show, one of the greatest meetings of the season and the one I am touting to become the Little Brown Jug of the United Kingdom, and at Haugh Field it was the Laidlers with Rhyds Sapphire and Karen Kennedy with Evenwood Ruthless who took home the spoils, winning heat and final of the low grade handicap and high grade handicap respectively.  A week later we were back at Tir Prince for the Crock of Gold Final and Le Trot trotting finals; this year Evenwood Sonofagun was able to keep all the glory to himself as he was an outright winner of the country's top FFA (having dead-heated with long-time rival Miraculous in 2017).  Team Nicholson & Ronnie Ralph landed the £10,000 Gold Final with their French trotter, Diamant De Godrel, with Emmanuelle Morvilliers from Le Trot present on the evening to celebrate with all the final winners.  On the same day, the Foody's and Lee Fletcher were entertaining the crowds at Stanhope Show when winning the final there with Porterstown Jimmy - a few of us managed to catch the race via Facebook Live, although we couldn't see who was in front and just had to rely on the commentary.

Back on Scottish soil, the major weekend at Corbiewood, the Murdock Weekend, was one for the Cullens and Gilvears.  Lyons Nant Hall took out the Dark Rum FFA on the Saturday with Grant Cullen in the bike, and Puissant Hanover landed the Bob Kennedy Memorial for Gordon Gilvear.  On Sunday they dominated in the feature events again, with VDM Colts winner Northern Pride easing to an impressive win in the SHRC 2YO Futurity for GG, and Tyler Camden a popular winner of the Joe Murdock Memorial Final for Grant.

The last meeting that I attended in 2018 was at Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton on 29th September.  Acting as official photographer once again, it was an enjoyable day of racing with Rhyds Mystique winning the STAGBI Future Broodmares race, Wellfield Earl and Roy Sheedy showing the young ones how it's done in the C Class race and Evenwood Sonofagun holding off rivals in a thrilling 4-horse high grade handicap which saw all four coming to the line together.

Smarty ventured to Corbiewood the following day but I found myself at home packing for our two week trip to America which was due to begin in less than 24 hours...

Stay tuned for Part 3 (unless you did Ohio in the 90's, in which case you'll not find anything of interest in the next instalment).

Over and out,

#1 Groom