SEAN Bowen doesn’t get much wrong, but he made a rare incorrect call in one of Uttoxeter’s feature races on Sunday.
The champion jockey rode the favourite Olivers Travels for his brother Mickey in the 3m 2f handicap chase, which was worth almost £12,000 to the winner.
But Bowen was left trailing in third as stablemate Art of Diplomacy – a horse he could have ridden but was instead partnered by conditional Shane Fenelon – ran out a decisive four-and-a-half-length winner. It was the trainer’s 24th winner of a very productive summer.
But it all went rather well for Sean from there on. He timed his run to perfection to land the staying hurdle on Pounding Poet, then teamed up with James Owen to strike in the two-and-a-half mile hurdle on board Chillhi.
Turning to the flat, time is running out for David Probert (photographed) in his quest to ride a Group 1 winner in Britain.
Wales’ leading flat jockey has revealed plans to ride in Hong Kong from September. The Bargoed-born rider has made the decision – in his words – to explore new horizons and opportunities
His departure will be a loss to British tracks. Probert has established himself as one of the top riders of his generation, a man who has partnered a century of winners in a calendar year every year from 2018 to 2024 and become the regular go-to jockey for top trainer Andrew Balding whenever champion Oisin Murphy is unavailable.
But still that Group 1 has proved elusive. He partnered the high-class filly Sandrine to a pair of Group 2 wins – including one at Glorious Goodwood – and steered Coltrane to victory in the Doncaster Cup. He has also finished second in both the 2000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby.
There remains a chance Probert could bow out on a Group 1 high when Never So Brave – who he rode to win the Group 2 Summer Mile at Ascot earlier this summer – tackles the City of York Stakes at the Ebor meeting. But there is probably a stronger chance that Balding will hand the ride to his stable jockey Murphy.
We are busy gearing up for one of its busiest months of the year. There are meetings on August 5 and August 13, before we stage our ever-popular Ladies’ Day on Friday, August 22. An afternoon of racing and style will be followed by a DJ set by Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne.
