Sedgefield – 20th February 2020 - Watch Sky Sports Racing In HD Handicap Chase

Sedgefield – 20th February 2020 – Watch Sky Sports Racing In HD Handicap Chase

Three shareholders (Phil Boyle, Ewart Lister and Shaun Taylor) made the long trip up to Sedgefield where they were joined by local resident Clive Stubbs who is a friend of Phil.

It was certainly a long drive up, but not as long in time as Liz Harrington, Harriet and Mount Oliver had, as they left Neil Mulholland’s yard at 4 am!

Sedgefield is a nice place to visit and it was quite busy for a weekday meeting. The viewing is decent, and the facilities are pretty good for a small course.

Our race was the first of the day, so we did not have long to wait to see some action. Tom Scudamore travelled up to ride for us and the plan was to sit handy and if we needed to lead we would do so, but not at a quick pace. Tom jumped off alongside another horse and rose in a share of the lead when jumping the first two well. He was good at the third and put in a slightly shorter stride at the ditch on the entrance to the straight and the next losing a length in the air. He was still upsides heading out on the penultimate circuit and jumped the next five well. He was a little slow at the one down the side of the course but jumped the ditch better second time and he jumped the last slightly in front as they headed onto the last circuit.

Mount Oliver was fine down the side and led into the back straight, where he was slow at the first there and lost the lead, but he jumped to the front again at the next and was fine at the next two. Leaving the back, he led with only four in contention and was looking to be going as well as any. The third last comes just before the home straight and this is where things went wrong. Mount Oliver is careful at his fences and stuck in an extra stride instead of going for a long leap and he was passed in the air by two rivals. Tom immediately pushed him up between them, but as he did so, they closed the gap and Tom was forced to pull back behind them. He lost a lot of momentum just as they hit the downhill at the top of the straight and he dropped off the two leaders by three lengths. He jumped the ditch well but was never going to catch the front two and Tom popped the last to finish third two lengths off the second.

Tom’s immediate reaction was that being hampered may have cost him the race. He acknowledged that the winner had won well and may have won anyway, but he felt that the loss of momentum had been impossible to overcome and without that he would definitely have been second and possibly would have won.

It was disappointing but these things happen and Mount Oliver had run a good race. The four owners headed into the warmth of the owners and trainers bar for a debrief and an enjoyable sausage and mash lunch, followed by gateau and cream!

After a few more races, it was time to head back out to the A1 to begin the long trip home.