Top pictures jump off pages

Nov 6 2007 by Brian Lee, Western Mail

HUNT-RACING enthusiasts will be pleased to learn that John Beasley’s Big Green Annual is now available (from Paleface Publications, 30 Thistlebarrow Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH7 7AL at £29.90 including p&p).

With more than 500 colour images, this unique 176-page annual captures the atmosphere and excitement of the 2007 point-to- point season.

The Racing Post’s Carl Evans has written the monthly reports and yours truly provides a review of the past Welsh season. There are articles by or about Jane Froggatt, Tony Vadasz, Matthew Parris, Ray Carey and Suzy Bull but it’s the spectacular pictures that jump out at you that make this book.

Cowbridge’s James Tudor, who won the national riders’ championship, obviously figures in a lot of the pictures and there are some remarkable shots of evergreen Dai Jones being dragged under his mount Aliby and luckily escaping serious injury at Ystradowen. Jodie Hughes, Charlotte Owen, John Llewellyn, Rhys Hughes, William Oakes, Paul Sheard, Tim Vaughan, Tom Faulkner and James Stephens are just some of the other Welsh riders whose images appear in this splendid pictorial record of the 2007 season.

The season opened in December for the first time and Carl Evans has this to say, “Opening the British point-to- point season in December was a bit like extending pub hours – popular with some, an irrelevance to others, a misconceived idea to a few.”

However, he goes on to say, “Crowd sizes were favourable, and it was therefore no surprise when each meeting rebooked for another try 12 twelve months later – in addition one at Dunthrop in the South Midlands was added to the list, while fixtures in Yorkshire and the South East were set to be held in January for the first time, thus gradually enhancing the early weeks of the season.”

Hands up all of you who would like to see an earlier start to the season in Wales!

Kilgetty trainer Keith Goldsworthy is having a cracking season. At Ascot on Saturday his promising five-year-old Hold Em made it three wins out of three when landing the National Hunt flat race. A winner of a maiden point-to-point in Ireland, Hold Em came home one-and-three-quarter lengths ahead of Karasakal under Tim Murphy. This was Keith’s 11th winner of the season. The previous weekend at Wincanton he scored with Rajam and Hills Of Aran and is certainly a trainer to keep an eye on.

Pentyrch Hunt point-to-point secretary Phillip Williams, Andrea Kelly, Tom Haddock and several other Welsh hunt-racing enthusiasts will be taking part in a charity flat race over one mile and five furlongs in aid of Diabetes UK at Hereford Racecourse on Friday.

David Pritchard, 16, has just returned from a week’s work experience with Herefordshire trainer Venitia Williams.

David will be making his point-to-point debut this coming season and will be riding Windy Spirit and Mountain Lily. The former won a ladies’ selling handicap at Newton Abbot in June when trained by Evan Williams.

The Welsh Point-To-Point “Grand National” at the Pentyrch Point-To-Point on April 19 will be a qualifier for the Volkswagen Touareg Gentlemen’s Championship.

Email Brian Lee with your point-to-point prospects at leebrian@btinternet.com