PREVIEW : High Easter Racing Club at High Easter – Saturday March 8th
By Graham Bishop
To whet your appetite for next week’s “Cheltenham Festival”, at which there will be several horses of local interest, we rendezvous at High Easter this Saturday.
Set in its delightful location, the racecourse hosts the first of two meetings being held at the Essex course, the other fixture is on the 5th April. This Saturday’s High Easter Racing Club meeting has become firmly established within the East Anglia region fixtures and the first of the six scheduled races is at 1pm.
The PPORA Club Members Conditions Race for Novice Riders commences the proceedings, with last year’s winner Young Rich amongst the entries. This time around Young Rich has something to prove as he was pulled up on his most recent start. Those with the best form are Kilfilum Woods, who has won a Maiden and Restricted race this season and finished close to Wallace Ollinger in an Intermediate contest. Monkey Puzzle who finished close behind Aramax at Horseheath and then won at Charing beating Back Bar.
Another strong looking Restricted race which has twelve entries of which eight have already tasted victory this season. These eight are Atlantic Fleet, Barrington John and Call Me Early and all won Maiden races around Horseheath, Graveside Lad won a Maiden race at Higham, Star Of Honour won a Chipley Park Maiden whilst Salacia’s Storm’s victory came in a mares Maiden race at Brocklesby Park. The other two that have won this season are Fame And Concrete who won a 2 ½ mile Restricted race at Charing and Bride Rovers Abu who won a similar event at Alnwick.
The entries for the Mixed Open race include All Is True and Aramax who are both stepping up in grade, as they seek to follow-up the three victories they have both achieved in Conditions races at Horseheath this season. Mylestown Upper won a 3 ¾ mile conditions race at Garthorpe on his latest start whilst at that same fixture Shentri finished second to Janika in a 2 ½ mile Ladies Conditions race and Our Jet finished a distant second to Fier Jaguen. Clara Sorrento has yet to run this season having by-passed several engagements, whilst Law Of Gold and Ragnar Lodbrok both were pulled up on their latest starts.
Of the eight entries made for the Ladies Conditions race, five of them hold alternative engagements on this card.They include Jacks Touch, Monkey Puzzle, Mylestown Upper, Russian Diamond and Shentri. Of these a mention for Russian Diamond who ran well on his seasonal reappearance when finishing third at Badbury Rings. The Signy and Marriage Families I’m Spellbound stands out as the leading contender having won on both starts this year and has previously won twice around this course.
The entries for the Conditions Race for 8 year-olds and over includes the aforementioned Russian Diamond, Mylestown Upper and Clara Sorrento. The remaining entries include Drop Him In who has won his last two starts, the most recent of which was at Larkhill in February. Benefaktor has run three times this season, the best of which was a second place at Revesby Park behind Go Go Geronimo in which Mountain Assault was behind. Mountain Assault has since finished second with Red Maple in third behind Mylestown Upper at Garthorpe and both are 3lbs better off at the weights. Nigel Padfield will be hoping his luck changes following a couple of close calls this season. All of his runners have finished either second or third, including Padjoes Legacy who was denied victory by a neck at Horseheath.
With seventeen entered for the concluding Maiden race it will be a competitive affair. Apart from the once-raced Iconic Jack, the remaining sixteen have all finished at one time in the first four places to varying degrees of competitiveness. Runners-up this season includes Kirsch de Cotte, Lewins Gully and Pax, whilst Sports Magic who finished a close second on his first start of the season, finished third at Ampton on Sunday. However, it would be foolhardy to ignore any without a close inspection of them in the parade ring.
EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE
Advanced reduced price adult tickets ( £13 ) available via the following link, until midnight Friday March 7th and will be still available on raceday, via the link at £15. https://higheasterraces.ticketsrv.co.uk/events/
Gate Admission: Adults £15 cash only.
Children under 16 Free and there will be a funfair in attendance.
Dogs welcome on short leads
New catering outlets together with a variety of retail tradestands.
Public Bar
High Easter racecourse is situated eight miles west of Chelmsford and set in a picturesque location, to the south of the village of High Easter. ( Sat Nav CM1 4QL )
