Winners for Sean Bowen were confidently expected from his six rides at Uttoxeter on Saturday night, and Laravie was the first of three. For much of this three-horse race, the mare was on and off the bridle, but she had won last time out over 2m6f, staying on well, and this three-mile contest suited her even better. The form book says she won by eight lengths, making it sound easy, but her only rival within hailing distance quickly eased off when Laravie’s success was assured.
The champion jockey’s second winner came when Raby Mere made all the running in a 2m4f hurdle. Bowen decided to go on when there was no early pace. A group of rivals gathered on his heels on the approach to the penultimate flight, only for Raby Mere to pull out more. He jumped well throughout, and another fine leap at the last sealed the issue. He will go chasing soon. It was the horse’s second win since joining Olly Murphy six weeks ago.
The treble came up in the finale on Murphy’s Stumps Or Slips, who completed a hat-trick in the 2m4f chase despite a lot of indifferent jumping. Bowen appeared confident he had petrol in the tank, and he needed it to collar the second favourite on the run-in.
Mickey and James Bowen had taken the 3m chase with the consistent Another Lord, carrying top weight and the colours of veteran owners Jayne and Gwyn Brace. Although he was eleven pounds higher in the handicap than when winning at Ffos Las in April, he was backed down to 13/8 favourite. James had to work hard to overtake the leader from the last but ultimately won going away.
There was success for Bernard Llewellyn at Chester in the shape of Polling Day, sent off at 33/1 in view of his last win being in 2021. That was over 1m4f and was followed by two and a half years off, then twelve runs on both codes in twelve months. Strangely, this was the first time he had been tried at that winning distance since. It was only his third start for Llewellyn. Elizabeth Gale, better known as a claimer over jumps, took the ride but was cautioned by the stewards later for allowing her mount to drift right without correcting him promptly.
Charlie Price (photographed) was brought up in Brecon and began his career in racing with Tim Vaughan before becoming the principal jockey for Robbie Llewellyn. He also rides a few for Cumbria-based Maurice Barnes, and on Saturday, steered his maiden chaser Conquer The Breeze to victory at Hexham. Neither horse nor jockey were winning out of turn. Conquer The Breeze had been placed in his last four outings, with Price in the saddle each time. This was his first winner in 81 days.
Our first flat meeting of the year is this Sunday, 22nd June – it’s a Family Fun Day race day with children aged 17 and under admitted free of charge. The first race is off at 2.30pm
