On Sunday, Uttoxeter and Cartmel staged jumps fixtures, both happy hunting grounds for Sean Bowen. Skilful though he is, he could not be in two places at once. He had won at the Lake District track on Friday aboard his brother Mickey’s Fairlawn Flyer (photographed), who was scoring for the fifth time in a row and the eleventh in all.
Sean settled for the Staffordshire course, which boasted some valuable prizes for the time of year, and duly rode a double for James Owen.
Laravie was odds-on to complete a hat-trick in the 2m4f novice hurdle and made most of the running to do so. He may well have won even if a Skelton-trained rival hadn’t fallen three out when travelling all right just behind him. Mohawk Chief, carrying James Bowen and the familiar yellow and maroon colours of their father Peter, came in a distant second. He is only fives years old and if he stays in the yard, he is sure to win a race sooner or later.
Tara Iti won the two-mile hurdle with such ease it was hard to recognise him as the horse that capitulated tamely in a similar contest at Hexham two weeks before. Sean is now 2-2 on him. Tara Iti has run thirteen times since the beginning of March, when he left the Moores’ Sussex stable – having been far from idle during the winter. He is entered in a 1m4f handicap at Beverley on Friday evening.
Sean rode Mickey’s Olivers Travels into fourth place in the Uttoxeter Summer Cup, worth £39,000 to the winner. The horse has done all his winning between June and September and there is ample time for him to add to it. Sean himself is on 46 for the season and has every chance of reaching his half-century this week with plenty of rides booked every day from Tuesday to Friday.
In the Northumberland Plate Tom Faulkner’s Golden Rules failed in his attempt to go one better than his second place in the 2023 event. He was going well in third three furlongs out, only to stop quickly according to jockey Silvestre de Sousa. The vet found nothing wrong with him after the race. Stablemate Golden Flame was eighth of eleven elsewhere on the Newcastle card, though he was beaten less than three lengths. He has been running well but hasn’t won since 2021.
Our next two meetings are Wednesday 9th July and Wednesday 16th July – they are both evening fixtures. We then have a free race night on Tuesday 29th July. Details are on the website. We have some great value tickets and hospitality packages for all fixtures
