We have two additional jump fixtures this week – on Wednesday and Thursday. They are both evening meetings starting at 5.12 pm. Admission is just £5 in advance. See the website pages for further details.
Rebecca Curtis (photographed) equalled her best seasonal total since 2016/17 when Bridget Mary’s victory in a novice chase at Bangor on Saturday made it the twentieth of the current campaign. The mare has been running consistently, mixing fences and hurdles, but without winning since October. With five-pound claimer Jamie Brace riding her for the first time, she trotted up in a fairly weak contest by ten lengths. Brace’s record with the yard is now 5-11.
It was the trainer’s third winner of the month, after four in March. Her National Hunt Chase winner Haiti Couleurs is only 7/1 for the Irish Grand National on Easter Monday, which is quite something bearing in mind the strength of the Irish stables.
Nobody could have been surprised by a Willie Mullins 1-2 in the Scottish National at Ayr, and a good run by a Sam Thomas handicapper shouldn’t have been a shock either. His Our Power was the best of the home team, rewarding each-way supporters at 33/1 by finishing an honourable third. He was close to the leaders most of the way, and the four-mile trip proved just too far for him. A little leniency from the handicapper would be welcome, as it’s been two years since Our Power last won. Aged ten now, he will become eligible for veterans races later in the year.
Sean Bowen had no joy with his mount, but he had a winner on Friday on Olly Murphy’s The Four Sixes. He followed up his easy Bangor success three weeks earlier by making all the running off a six-pound higher mark.
David Probert turned the form book upside down by winning Saturday’s John Porter Stakes on Andrew Balding’s second string, Divina Grace.
The five-year-old mare was having her first start for the Kingsclere yard and was pitched in at the deep end in this 1m4f Group 3. Her two principal opponents on paper had official ratings a stone higher than hers. Probert’s strike rate in races of 1m4f-2m has always been above his overall average, and he gave Divina Grace a fine ride from the front, not needing to go for everything until the final quarter of a mile. Despite being headed and having a bit of a bumping match with her adversary, she fought back gamely to win by a short head.
The ground was good, good to firm in places, which didn’t suit those higher-rated rivals. Divina Grace was one of four Balding winners that day. She is likely to go up in class and slightly down in trip next time, for she is entered in a fillies’ race at York’s Dante meeting.
