Unseasonably fine August weather brought a tremendous crowd to the Garden Racecourse for the Bank Holiday fixture, the first of two days this week. There were long queues to get into the racecourse off the main road from spectators less familiar with Ripon, for which we apologize.
But for those determined to punt their way through the afternoon, being stuck in the car may have proved a saving grace, as the opening first division of the Squadron Flyer at Aldwark Manor Estate restricted maiden flushed out a 28/1 winner from Mark Walford’s Sheriff Hutton yard. Two year old runners from this stable more familiar with Wetherby and Carlisle than our county’s flat tracks, are like hens’ teeth. This was just a third juvenile runner from the yard this term, but the Susan Skingsley-owned Empress Olivia had something in hand at the close, Harry Russell holding off second placed Quantum Power 2 3/4l at the line.
No such surprises in division 2, where the first of five winning favourites made this a torrid afternoon for bookmakers. Billy Loughnane picked up the first leg of a short-priced double for Tom Dascombe, heading One And Gone inside the final 110 yards to win with a little in hand.
Ian Williams provided Loughnane’s second winner from his 5 booked rides in the Ripon Rowels Handicap when Silent Age touched off Tim Easterby’s Barley by a neck in the mile handicap. Williams is not a familiar sight at Ripon, this only his third runner this year. But with 52 winners to date this year, the yard is fast approaching £1m in prize money – “not too shabby for the son of a West Country jumps trainer who made good” – his words, not mine.
Any frustration at finishing second best had been somewhat allayed in the Easterby camp 30 minutes earlier, after home-bred two year old Anaisa showed good speed and plenty of promise in the feature of the afternoon, the British Stallion Studs EBF Champion Two year Old Trophy over 6f. Tim Easterby is a chip of the old block; he was rubbing his hands together at the performance, as he has submitted a half-brother to Newmarket sales, described as “an absolute cracker”. David Allen was in the plate.
Clifford Lee is a rider with a wide acquaintanceship, having ridden for no less than 70 trainers this year already. Mainstay employment comes from Karl Burke and Newmarket’s James Tate, and it was the latter who provided his 69th winner of 2025, when Final Secret stayed on to beat Spanish Rising in the 1m 2f restricted maiden, the second of the five winning favourites. Final Secret looked as if a longer trip still wouldn’t be out of the question.
The largest field of the day appeared in the 5f handicap, flushing all the riders out of the Weighing Room. They’d started their day the same way by joining spectators in a minute’s silence in memory of Bruce Raymond, a rider many present wouldn’t even have seen riding, given he retired in 1994. A contemporary of he like of Piggott, Carson and Eddery, Raymond rode some 2,000 winners in a 30 year career, without ever achieving the milestone of a British classic. A man to be missed.
The runners for the 5f sprint showed no such longevity, hurtling down Ripon’s shortest dash in just 57 seconds, led by Another Baar under Oisin McSweeney. The Adrian Paul Keatley – trained 5 year old was having a second outing within a week, and found little difficulty in putting 4 1/4l between him and second – placed Betweenthesticks, the second time this finishing order had occurred within 7 days. At 7/2, this was favourite backers longest price of the day.
With two races to go, some were headed for the exit, but the drama was far from over. A terrific tussle took place to gain supremacy in the 1m2f Lily Burnet Memorial Classified. Tiberio Force, running in midfield alongside Coloane made his move to the front a furlong out, was headed by the latter, and fought back to get up by a neck under Paul Mulrennan for Scarcroft-based Simon Whitaker. Mulrennan is another with a strong address book. With Jim Goldie’s yard as a mainstay, this hasn’t prevented him from bookings from a legion of others.
More excitement in the last, but of a kind Clerks of Course could well do without. 9 set off in the amateur riders handicap over 1m 3f, but Star Start from Ruth Carr’s yard didn’t finish. Squeezed for room a furlong out, she tipped up, ejecting rider Charli Parker, who was unconscious for a short while on the turf. Carr reports her battered and bruised the following day after a night in Middlesbrough hospital.
Up front, Jamie Neild made light work of the race on Spartan Times for Jennie Candlish. Given her dual purpose yard, it’ll come as little surprise to see the four year old over hurdles this winter.
