Koka Fast ridden by Adam Jones in the dark blue and yellow with white cap pulls out in front to win the main event, the Cenkos (CI) Handicap ahead of Snow Lark, ridden by Tony Procter in the purple and yellow. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0574640)
THE annual Guernsey Race Club flat meeting gets better by the year. Overcast conditions and patches of drizzle could not spoil a fantastic afternoon’s entertainment yesterday at L’Ancresse.
All five races were crackers in what was a very professionally run and well supported event. ‘It has been an incredibly good day to say the weather has been poor for us yet again,’ said GRC committee member Trevor Gallienne.
‘People have still made an effort and they have realised we need the support if we are to stage an event like this and the feedback I have had from them has been great. ‘I think it is fair to say that it is a great day out for a fiver.’
Gallienne’s sentiments were echoed by visiting Racing UK commentator, Mark Johnson.
‘The quality of racing was the best we have had here since the meeting was rejuvenated,’ he said.
‘Crowd-wise, it might not have been as good as a couple of years ago when it was scorching sunshine, but given the weather we have had, it was a very successful day.
‘They have seen some of the best finishes we have had in the last four years and the day passed totally without incident.’
The main event was a record-breaker.
At £5,000, the Cenkos (CI) Handicap had the biggest prize at stake for a Channel Islands race and was over the longest distance of about two miles and a furlong.
Unfortunately there was to be no local involvement.
Tom and Ruth Bougourd’s Guernsey-owned-and-trained Glenree was a non-runner with a vet’s certificate: but the race was a thriller.
Koka Fast took up the running for much of the opening lap, before Ronsard hit the front with seven furlongs to go and threw down the gauntlet to the other four horses.
It was holding on to the lead with a quarter-of-a-mile to go, but, under the guidance of jockey Adam Jones, Koka Fast came back impressively to edge ahead once more and take the win by a length from the fast-finishing Snow Lark with Ronsard two lengths further back.
‘He is getting stronger every year and he keeps paying his way, which is the main thing,’ said Jones of his mount, which is more used to taking on jumps.
‘[Ronsard] actually went past me quicker than expected, but I knew he [Koka Fast] would go the distance, and the course has not got much of a hill to the finish compared to Jersey, so I looked to sneak up again up to the last bend and go from there.’
Earlier, a three-horse race had got the afternoon off to a flying start.
All the entries were still in with a shout of victory in the one-mile Sure Handicap approaching the line, including last year’s winner Kristinor, owned by Guernsey Race Club vice-president Jim Jamouneau.
However, it was the favourite Don Pietro, ridden by Guernsey newcomer Frankie McDonald, who got the judges’ verdict by a head with Secret Assassin in third, a further length behind.
‘Frankie would have had a long walk home if he had not won today,’ joked trainer Paul Blockley, also on his first trip to the Guernsey meeting.
The following Bob Froome Memorial Handicap over six furlongs saw Over To You Bert just hold off a blistering finish from Trevor and Pat Gallienne’s Grenane to take first place by a neck.
The locally-owned horse was boxed in coming around the final bend and could not quite make up the lost ground.
McDonald was to complete a double in the fourth race as he rode Friends Hope to victory in the R. W. Randall Ltd Handicap over one-and-a-half miles.
In a very open race, the four horses were at nothing more than a canter until about halfway through when they suddenly went through the gears in what Johnson described as ‘a dash for the cash’.
Friends Hope and Le Corvee, ridden by Matty Bachelor, emerged as the two main contenders with the former holding on for a win by a length.
Flaxby finished well but could not deny Le Corvee second.
Bachelor did register a win in the final showdown of the day, the Aurigny.com Handicap over a mile and two furlongs.
Riding Top Level, he took up the lead with about half-a-mile to go and did not relinquish it.
Lord of the Wing came through in fine style to take second ahead of favourite Silver Silence.
‘The course rode amazingly well considering the rain we have had,’ said Gallienne of the circuit that was good to firm, good along the L’Ancresse road straight.
‘The horses have absolutely flown around it.
‘I don’t think I have ever seen races that quick here before.’
Johnson added that the return of jockeys who know the course had benefited the races enormously.
‘Also, that familiarity has helped attract trainers like Tony Carroll and Paul Blockley here for the first time, because word gets back to them that they are going to a proper, legitimate race meeting.
‘That has helped increase the value and improve the quality of the races,’ he said.
Article posted on 6th May, 2008 - 2.29pm
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