If ever there was a champagne
moment, it was at Worcester Racecourse on Saturday afternoon. On a day when record crowds enjoyed
the racing whilst basking in the sunshine on the banks of the river Severn , an emotional owner welcomed his horse back into
the parade ring, having won the feature race of the day.
Peter Bowling is a great friend to
the Racecourse and over several years has had 11 runners at the course, resulting
in seven winners, two seconds and one third placed horse, with only one
unplaced finisher. That is a wonderful
strike rate for any owner. Pure Faith, trained in Wales by
Peter Bowen gave Bowling his 25th winner under rules when, at odds
of 20-1 he saw off Venetia Williams’ Ciceron in the Chemical Corporation 30th
Anniversary Valerie Lewis Memorial handicap chase.
Formerly running against horses
of the calibre of Kauto Star and Albertas Run, Pure Faith has dropped in the
handicap in the last couple of years. Jim Lewis was on hand to present
Bowling and co-owner, Simon Scott with the impressive annual silver trophy. Bowling’s former star, Swansea Bay ,
who included two Badger Ales Chases, the Edward Hamner Chase and six wins from
six starts at Worcester
in his winning tally, is the most successful horse at the course in recent
times.
Ruby Walsh’s decision last week
to step down as number one stable jockey to former Champion trainer, Paul
Nicholls will be much to the benefit of Daryl Jacob who now moves up to the
coveted position at the Ditcheat stables. Jacob wasted little time in
notching up his first winner since Walsh’s announcement and this was aboard
Saint Roque in the handicap hurdle at Worcester
on Saturday. The horse was following up
a Fontwell win a week earlier and will probably go chasing from here due to an
inevitable rise in the weights over hurdles.
Champion jockey AP McCoy was also
on the score sheet on Saturday and has already taken the lead in the Worcester jockey table in
defence of his 2012 title, following a delayed start due to injury. McCoy steered an exciting new JP
McManus owned prospect home for trainer, Jonjo O’Neill in the second division
of the bumper. Another Hero, who cost
his owner 50,000 Euros, is a half brother to Supreme Novice winner, Back in
Front and following his impressive debut under rules, the four year old is
definitely one to watch going forward.
In further news of recent Worcester winners,
Anquetta was recently sold at the DBS Doncaster sales for £24,000 to Cheltenham
Gold Cup winning owner, Robert Waley-Cohen. The horse rewarded his new owner
and jockey son, Sam by taking the two mile handicap chase at Newton Abbott
under top weight and will remain on the go through the summer, staying on at
Nicky Henderson’s Seven Barrows yard.
Interestingly, three of the
victors from the 12th May meeting at Worcester have all come out and been
successful again next time out, within two and a half weeks. The other two
horses being Royal Knight, trained in Claines, and My Lad Percy.
We are hoping the weather stays
fair for the evening meeting on Thursday when the first race is due off at
5.55pm.
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Pure Faith (Tom O'Brien)
