‘Water’ relief as point-to-point gets go-ahead

The owners and trainers who were running horses were naturally very concerned about the lack of rain and the hardness of the ground which, untreated, is very dangerous to ride at speed and jump on.

The promised heavy rain from Thursday on did not materialise to any great extent and from the weekend before, clerk of the course Gary Clugston realised that a huge amount of watering would required to make the course safe enough to encourage people to risk their horses.

The course was spiked on Monday to allow the water to penetrate and on Wednesday the endless watering started. This continued until the eleventh hour with the result that in spite of the drought and drying wind, the ground was in very good condition by the time racing started.

That the course was in good condition was proved by the fact that so many doubtful trainers decided to run their horses after having walked the course on Saturday morning and Gary and his helpers deserve a huge amount of credit for their efforts.

The racing was dominated by the rivalry between the highly successful top jockeys Derek O’Connor and Jamie Codd who hotly contested almost every race with superb riding.

The first two races were very kindly sponsored by Dennison Commercials and Sunstart Bakery. The third race was sponsored by a new sponsor, Albert Bartlett & Sons Ltd, and was also a qualifier for the Airdree Bumper Final in Down Royal on May 27. This attracted a good number of entries and 14 runners with the Southerners taking all but 4th place which went to the Graham McKeever trained Obispo.

In the Open Lightweight race, sponsored by the Temple Golf & Country Club, the Northerners got their revenge with the highly successful trainer from Larne, Stuart Crawford trained Mister Philson coming through in an exciting finish to beat Aces or Better, trained by Graham McKeever.

The maiden race for mares, sponsored by the Diamond Bar, Ahoghill, was divided due to the number of runners and local trainer and Mid Antrim Hunt stalwart Andy Hamilton gained a third with his wife Judith’s Knockan Breeze in the first division. William Logan’s Banaway trained by Graeme Martin from Buckna was 4th.

Another local success, winning the second division, was Lady Shirley owned by Richard Gilchrist of Broughshane and trained by Stuart Crawford. Fourth in this race was Traad Bay owned and ridden by William Thompson, who honed his riding skills as a junior whipper in with the Mid Antrim Hunt.

The second division of the last race which was sponsored by AirCore provided a very exciting finish as William Thompson, who at the very last minute was asked to ride Caroline de Montmorency’s Aghavillar, was narrowly beaten into second place with another Stuart Crawford trained horse, Onefortheroad Mac in third place and John Bryson’s horse Patsy Dan coming fourth.

In total, there were 84 runners with all the races hotly contested and spectators were treated to an excellent day’s racing in beautiful surroundings.

* Don’t miss this week’s Ballymena Times for a special photo feature from the event.