Heywood Road in the leafy suburb of Sale which is a few stops away from the two Old Trafford grounds of Manchester United and Lancashire County Cricket Club and has been home to Sale for a good length of time while the more professionally well known team Sale Sharks now ply their trade in Salford after moving from Stockport at the end of last season.
Monthly Archives: February 2013
Haydock Park,Grand National Trial Day,Saturday 16th February 2013
The first meeting of 2013 at my local course and a very good card of National Hunt racing to enjoy as many horses have their preparations for the upcoming Cheltenham and Aintree festivals in the months ahead.
Race Two was the Grade Two Rendlesham Hurdle over 3m and this was an all the way victory for Across the Bay from Donald McCains yard and huge win for jockey Henry Brooke to hold off the very good Trustan Times by 1.25 lengths, a winner of two chases at Kelso and Carlisle this season he was going over the smaller obstacles since finishing 7th when carrying top weight in the Welsh National last month, This run will have brought his confidence back but it’s doubtful he will go for the World Hurdle at Cheltenham but he will no doubt be aimed at something, Trustan Times ran a grand race in defeat but could well go for the Liverpool Hurdle which may suit him given the way he travels plus with no Big Buck’s it is possible that race could be for the taking.
Race Three was the feature race of the day, The Grand National Trial over the stamina sapping 3m4f , a field of fourteen long distance specialist faced the starter with two previous winners in the contest also this seasons Welsh,Sussex and London National winners plus the Classic Chase winner from Warwick back in January, it was a good quality field and it went the way of the vastly improved Well Refreshed from Gary Moore’s yard in Lower Beeding,Held up in the early stages he made plenty of ground up down the back straight and turning for home began to extend his lead before a making a real hash of the last fence but this didn’t affect him to much as he went on to record a 10 length victory of previous Warwick scorer Rigadin de Beauchene who tried to follow up a recent Classic Chase win but lost no honour in coming second behind a real quality winner.
In third was the Welsh National winner Monbeg Dude who did stay on but his Gold Cup entry could well be a waste of time and yet again he follows in a long line of Welsh National winners who struggle in their next race as that Chepstow marathon always takes a lot out of them and leaves a mark for the rest of the season, All credit to the winner though as he won his first chase at Fontwell off a rating of 100 and now wins this off 129 so expect the handicapper to give him a real clobbering, not entered in the National it could well be a trip to Fairyhouse or Ayr unless they pop into Uttoxeter next month.
It was The Prestige Novices Hurdle next for Race Four over 3m, just the five runners and a classy performance from the Alan King trained Two Rockers, unbeaten in a Point and two novice events at Towcester this season he traveled well and was still on the bridle at the last flight before being asked to pick up which he duly did to record a 5l win over Ardklilly Witness with Shotgun Paddy back in third being the only ones who finished the race, The winner is a nice likeable type who could end up going Chasing next term and will be one to watch if he does, in the short term connections may go and take their chance in the Albert Bartlett at the Festival and he would have as good a chance as any due to it always being a wide open contest.
The fifth contest was a competitive Novices Handicap Chase over 2m4f and recent Wetherby victor Cloudy Too followed up here with another good performance from this improving 7yo from Sue Smiths yard, travelling and jumping well he defeated favourite Ohio Gold by 8 lengths to give Wayne Hutchinson a double on the card, His jumping has improved in his last two races and he remains on the upgrade so be worth noting where he gets aimed at and if they keep him at this trip or have a go over further later on, Ohio Gold ran well enough but probably needs to be dropped a few pounds before he wins again.
Race Six was another Pertemps Qualifier but oddly this was only a nine runner event as most of the time these races have double figure fields and it was a fourth straight win for Seymour Eric who kept stable mate Mauricetheathlete company for the first circuit before taking over and dotting home by 4.5 lengths from Knock a Hand who ran a personal best for the season with Bouggler back in third who was never able to challenge, Again as with the feature race all eyes will be what the handicapper does to this winner who began the season winning at the now sadly closed Hereford off a rating of 85 and today won on 121, hopefully he should get in the final and very much deserves to as he could be the Hunt Ball of the 2012/13 season.
The final race of the day was the Walrus Hunters Chase or as every Hunter Chase that is run between now and Cheltenham called a Foxhunters Trial. This was again over 3m and named the Walrus due to when this meeting used to be a two day event the first day all had races named with Lewis Carroll connections, anyway back to the race and it was the favourite Cottage Oak who duly obliged seeing off Current Exchange by 13 lengths with former Becher Chase winner Vic Venturi an honourable third, The winner is prominent in the betting for the Cheltenham Foxhunters and if he wins that and goes on to land the Aintree one he will win his owners an extra £25,000 or £10,000 should he land just one of them.
A very enjoyable afternoon of racing was had by all, along with good company which always makes the day even nicer.
Last season this meeting threw up a good few Festival winners including the Grand National winner, doubt any of today’s winners may do the same but then again stranger things to happen in this wonderful sport of ours.
Leigh Miners Rangers v Methley Royals, BARLA National Cup Round One
Due to the weather I had to abandon my original plan of covering the local football match between Atherton Colls and Daisy Hill which had succumb to a waterlogged pitch,after some searching online I found this game was fine and with my tickets for the Rugby League World Cup all bought I decided to cover this game and get me some much needed match practise for later in the year.
Today the match was switched from Leigh’s traditional home of Twist Lane to Sutton Park just off Manchester Road and next to the factory of Waterfields Bakery (other bakeries available and plenty in Leigh!) due to maintenance work going on and Sutton Park is normally where the junior section play but today the bigger boys were on the turf.
It was the first competitive game of the season for Leigh today against Methley Royals who are based in amongst the bigger RL places of Leeds,Wakefield and Castleford so its fair to say they have most of their matches watched by their respective scouts to see if any talented youngsters are on the way through and could make the grade at higher level.
The first half commenced on what looked a heavy surface but one you would not mind being tackled on compared to a firmer sunny one and both teams seemed to feeling the other one out,the best early attempt came to Leigh on about 18mins when Steven Marsh dropped a fairly simple pass to go in at the corner no doubt to the Royals they were breathing a sigh of relief when he let go.
It took till the 23rd min for the first points of the day when Leigh who were in possession went for a high kick on the last tackle but this was caught by Full Back David Williams of Methley who caught in his own try line then came out did a quick tap restart and promptly scooted through the Leigh defence and did a full length dash to get the ball over the try line and Alan White followed the easy conversion 0-6.
Just six minutes later after some useful play Andrew Hodson got Leigh back in the game going over the line but as was proved to be a hindrance later on Leigh missed the conversion following the try so the scores were now 4-6.
More play carried on and as half time was slowly approaching and the rain was falling on the good couple of hundred people who turned out for this and the home team would be happy to go in with this score but it was the visitors who got a psychological edge on 35mins by Stuart Biscomb who got his hand on over the try line followed by a kick through the defence on the fifth tackle and again Alan White duly topped up the extra two points so going in at half time it was Leigh MR 4-Methley Royals 12.
Second half came and it took Leigh all of seven minutes to get back in the game when Sean Pendlebury scored in the corner of the clubhouse end but as again with the first try the conversion got missed so the score was now 8-12.
Royals responded and on the 54th min and winger Josh Dixon went very wide through the Leigh defence and managed to avoid some tackles and got the ball down next to the sticks and yet again Alan White put the ball between the posts to make it 8-18.
More attacking from both teams carried on as the game continued and the Royals incredibly well built Second Row Dale Cogan who was built like the proverbial Brick Privvy powered through the defence on a fifty meter charge on the fifth tackle and it took about three players to finally bring him to ground for the handover.
Getting onto the 70th min and Leigh got a restart after Todd Appleby was brought down and the switch of play out to the left resulted in Sean Pendlebury getting his second try and this meant Leigh were back in the game but alas the conversion got missed so this now made it 12-18.
However the Royals dealt their hosts a cruel blow when they effectively made sure the win was in the bag with a drop goal on the 78th min which made up for the one they missed just a few minutes before this one by Scrum Half Andy Speake who must have felt like Johnny Wilkinson by winning a match in this style.
So an enjoyable match, not the classiest teams but this is the amateur level of the game and a whole world away from Super League and Championship rugby but for £2.50 and a free programme included it is a nice enough way to spend an afternoon.
Looking at players for the future I would heartily recommend the Methley Royals Full Back young David Williams, only Sixteen and has plenty of pace on him, would not surprise me if he gets picked up by a higher quality team and loaned out at Championship level in the years to come.
Full Time Leigh Miners Rangers 12 Methley Royals 19.
Wetherby Races,Towton Day,Saturday 2nd February 2013.
Yorkshire was my destination as today was Towton Novices Chase Day at Wetherby,although it was also dubbed Irish Day which meant a marquee with Guinness on tap (Other Stouts available) and a band doing the traditional fiddly de music which is all racecourses seem to think you need.