The final meeting of the Midlands area season took place this weekend at Dingley and with the weather gods conspiring to bring us the driest April and May the entries were understandably sparse.
The Fitzwilliam fixture was the sole meeting in England on Saturday and once again the ground staff had worked around the clock to produce a safe racing surface with the official going given as Good, Good to Firm in places (Watered).
Dingley regulars Dale Peters and Mountain Assault came out on top in the opening Conditions race when winning by ¾ of a length from Bothwell Bridge in the colours of his own Father and the Clarks. This was Dale Peters’s 100th winner trained between the flags, a figure he only managed to stay on for 35 minutes before Maskadam took the Restricted but this time under Jack Andrews whilst Dale himself took the runners-up spot on Inbeforered. Maskadam was yet another winner for Beryl Close who with her family were also sponsoring the race in memory of Beryl’s late husband Jamie.
Unfortunately Ragnar Lodbrok walked over in the Mens open but the crowd were treated to a longer than usual interview with Gerald Bailey who gave them a run-down of the season they had enjoyed with both Ragnar Lodbrok and winner of 7 this season Aramax.
The Ladies Open was a tactical affair with Daisy White on Killer Clown controlling the pace from the front and turning the last half mile into a sprint to win by 3 lengths from Precious Bounty and Novice title-chasing Marina Bealby.
Validation managed to finally shed his bridesmaid tag after a series of runners-up efforts when winning in a canter for Gina Andrews and Nigel Padfield before the final race was taken out by Jack Andrews on the Stuart Morris trained Eoin’s Charm for the Pytchley with Woodland Syndicate and was greeted back in the winners enclosure by 20 plus owners.
That concludes this season in the Midlands area. We will publicise next seasons’s fixture dates as soon as they have been confirmed.
Many thanks to all our owners, trainers, jockeys and, most of all, volunteers for making the 2024-5 Midlands Point-to-point season possible. We hope to welcome members of the public back after the summer break when the season restarts in the winter.
