POINTING PEOPLE: SIMON MARRIAGE

By Jake Exelby

Simon Marriage, who farms at High Easter, near Chelmsford, is one of the best-known and most popular characters on the point-to-point scene in the Eastern and Southern regions. A former rider (briefly), long-standing owner, and responsible for the racecourse on his land – which holds two meetings a year, including a hugely popular fixture on Grand National Day – Simon has performed many roles, both in the East Anglia Area and nationally. Jake Exelby spoke to Simon in advance of the forthcoming meeting about a life in the sport, and how he copes with extremes of weather.

 

How – and when – did the course at High Easter come about?

Bedfords Farm is fifth generation. We have 1,300 acres of arable and beef cattle, which works well with the racecourse, as the cows can graze the car parks!

The Essex Hunt used to race at Marks Tey. I got involved in the mid-1980s, but we weren’t making much money. One of the people I hunted with told me he had a potential course at Radwinter (near Saffron Walden), so we bought the fences and set it up. Unfortunately, hunt politics intervened. My father and I had pointers at home and needed a gallop, so we put grass round our fields and knew we could turn it into a racecourse – two years later, it appeared.

We’ve raced at High Easter since 1992 and three of the fences are original, dating back to Radwinter.

 

What are the challenges faced in course preparation, both in the set-up and yearly maintenance? How to you cope in particularly wet – and dry years?

This year, being dry, we watered from Wednesday through Friday last week, with more water being put on in the week before racing. The course was harrowed and rolled after the last meeting, and spiked both before and after watering, and the jumps have been moved to fresh ground.

It’s about attention to detail, not just bunging water on – you need to walk the course to see which parts need more… and which less. The far side of the course is meadow, and the turf is ancient, and there’s an area by the pond that holds water. I remember when Marks Tey got in a muddle (in 2014, when the Easter Monday fixture had four walkovers). They watered, but some parts were bottomless, and others rock hard.

In 2023, in contrast, I was woken in the middle of the night before the April fixture by rain drumming on the roof and there was 18mm of water in the rain gauge. I jumped on the gator and the course was awash. I was close to calling it off, but my son Adam arrived with plenty of tractors to get people on and off. In any case, most owners prefer soft ground to firm.

 

The Grand National Day fixture attracts a massive crowd. How do you market the meeting?

Radwinter also used to race on Grand National Day but got a poor crowd in the second year and said, ‘never again’. When we were moved back to that date in the noughties, we thought we’d better embrace it. We bit the bullet, paid for a big screen, got sponsors and filmed the races live.

It got its own momentum. We put up a lot of advertising boards round the county and now do more social media. Once people know a date, they put it in their diary and the trade stands become keener. We’ve always done a reception for local farmers, which brings in 800-900 people, who bring their mates, as there’s nothing worse than an empty party! And we do corporate entertaining, including Chelmsford racecourse and other local business.

 

You’re also involved with the East Anglian Area overall. What do you do for them?

I was Master of the Essex Hunt for 17 years, took over from Andrew Merriam as Area Chair and did that for seven or eight years, and am now National President of the PPSA.

My wife Joanna has been fixture secretary for 36 years, since the days when we raced at Marks Tey.

Nigel Padfield also deserves a mention. He’s been going – riding and training his own horses – even longer than I have.

 

What motivates you to put in so much work on a voluntary basis?

It started off as wanting to make money for the Hunt, now it’s about pride in what I do. I want everyone to enjoy the day – from owners and jockeys to members of the public. I see it as a bit like a giant open garden and like to keep the family atmosphere.

 

How and when did you get into ownership?

Our first horse was Betsy Crocker in 1983 – Joanna rode her in our Members Race – and we’ve had horses every year since. I think we’ve had 36 in total, with the most in a season being five. Our first winner was Dictatorship, ridden by Tim Moore, at Marks Tey in 1989. Nicky Cook – who also rode for us – used to help, but we didn’t have the facilities to keep training ourselves as the sport became professional.

I rode myself, but there’s not much to say. I started late, had three rides, fell off twice and was third in my Members on Knights Row in 1989. I was once second in a charity race at Huntingdon. I was exciting getting changed with professionals and seeing my name on the number board – a kid even asked for my autograph!

 

What have been the highlights of your time in the sport?

As an owner, winning two Hunter Chases at Cheltenham with Fairly Famous. The first was exciting and the second unexpected.

And running any successful meeting is a highlight. I enjoy improving things without being silly. Becoming more professional is time-consuming and expensive and it would be good to go more back to basics. Costs are going up, the BHA doctors audit this season took ages and the vets prefer going to Chelmsford under rules. The days when you could just give people a bottle of whisky are gone (!) and everything comes off the bottom line.

 

And funniest moment?

At our meeting in 1994, we’d split the Maiden on entry and the first division had one more declaration than the safety factor. We had Cass in the race, and I told rider Tim Moore I’d take him out to save splitting the race again. Tim said no and they dotted up! You couldn’t have written that script.

 

How did the partnership with Adam Signy come about?

We’d sent a horse to be trained by Lauren Braithwaite, then combined with a bunch of other owners – the Sporborgs, Harveys, Harding-Joneses and Signys – to get a decent horse, as Christopher Sporborg wanted a runner in the Cheltenham Foxhunters. We called it the ‘Pursuing the Dream’ Partnership and the result was Berties Dream.

Gina Andrews won ten Ladies Opens on him and used to say it was like driving a car over a speed bump! He never fell but wasn’t the best jumper. He stayed forever and loved Ampton and Horseheath. We had him here for hunting when he retired.

When the others left the partnership for various reasons, Adam and I carried on. We bought Amigo and Fox Valley and, when Lauren stopped training, she suggested we sent them to Tom (Ellis, Gina’s husband) and Gina. We had our best season in 2023 with the likes of Fairly Famous, I’m Spellbound and Koyote.

 

How did you choose your colours? There’s a lot going on!

Lauren said we needed to design some, so we took a bit from all the owners – the blue body from the Sporborgs, yellow crossbelts from the Harding-Joneses, hooped sleeves from us and the Harveys and the diamonds on the cap from the Signys. When I registered them, there was silence on the end of the phone, then I was asked ‘Are you sure?’

 

Which have been your favourite horses?

Bertie’s Dream and Salmon Mead, a lovely old horse we got from the Sporborgs. He was able to run most weeks and was a brilliant hunter. We loved having horses from them and the Turners as they were always sound.

 

Tell me about plans for your pointers this season.

Two of them are likely to run at High Easter on Saturday, Call Me Early in the Members and either Fairly Famous or I’m Spellbound in the Ladies Open – I’d love to win the Warwick Vase, as I never have.

Longer term, Call Me Early may go for the Aintree bumper, I’m Spellbound to Cheltenham or Stratford and Fairly Famous may go back to Cheltenham to try for a three-timer, as he obviously likes it there.

 

You’ve been close to being champion owner in the past. Is that a realistic ambition this season?

We came very close in 2023 with 12 winners, but I don’t think we’ll do it this year, as we won’t push Call Me Early and the other two will go Hunter Chasing.

I hope Nick Wright can do it – he and Nigel Padfield are two of the few people who own and train just for themselves.

 

Which horse (not one of your own) would you most like to own?

I like ones that are sound and keep going, like Tullys Touch, who comes out week after week. We need horses like that in the sport.

 

Which jockeys, other than those you use, do you admire?

Alex Chadwick is a lovely lad, and very good on a horse. Rupert Stearn’s in his 40s now but still has his day in the sun. There aren’t many like him around any more – everyone else has given up.

 

Tell me something I wouldn’t know from asking these questions.

I’m recovering from prostate cancer – it was diagnosed three years ago, and I’ve had an operation and radiotherapy but am hopefully now clear as it’s been undetectable for a year.

It just hits you and you don’t realise why. You need to catch it early – luckily I did – and it’s important that people take it seriously.