A tough day for race-goers in rain at Ludlow
With the football on, Kempton Park hosting a good card and the weather being nothing short of awful, it was always going to be a fairly sedate day at Ludlow yesterday, writes Ben Morgan.
Only five bookmakers turned up and that probably told you all you needed to know.
Having said that, the first race will turn out to be some solid form.
The winner Western Zephyr was a smart bumper performer last year for Charlie Longsdon and he has clearly stepped forward in the summer as he powered away late on to win comfortably.
In second was Brentford Hope, who was once a well-touted flat horse. He made a pleasing debut over hurdles and remains one to watch over the next few months.
Venetia Williams has hit a bit of form in the past few days after a long dry spell and that form continued as Paseo put in a textbook display of jumping under Shane Quinlan to gain a well-deserved victory.
One by one his rivals cracked under the sustained pressure applied by his dead eye fencing and he ran out a comfortable winner in the end.
Langley Hundred looked to have a penalty kick in the third race and went off a hot favourite. Young rider, Elizabeth Gale rode a calm race but delivered her charge up the straight and he duly obliged despite getting weary late on.
It was a double on the day for Williams and Quinlan as Desque De Lisle took the three-runner two-mile handicap chase which was supposed to be the feature race of the day. Again another foot perfect round of jumping saw off his rivals and proved that the Williams stable is now in a serious vein of form.
Another local stable in fine form is the Henry Daly stable and he yet again bagged a winner at Ludlow as Fenney Brook came home in front in driving rain. She hit the crossbar here last time out but there were no problems this time as Richard Patrick cruised into contention before giving her a squeeze and she duly kicked away from inferior rivals.
The finale went the way of Gerard Mentor for the Kim Bailey yard as he finished in near darkness. With heavy downpours a regular occurrence throughout the afternoon, the last was a tough watch as the ground had turned soft by this point but the eventual winner, unproven on soft ground prior to the race, showed a real liking for the surface as he was barely asked a question and cleared away by 10 lengths or more.
Racing returns to Ludlow next Wednesday, November 30.
