Our next meeting at Ffos Las is this coming Saturday 28th May. There is a Beer and Cider theme and the meeting is sponsored by Gower Brewery. Racing starts at 5.50pm with the last race at 9pm. Tickets are £17 in advance and £22 on the night.
We also have tickets available for the Kaiser Chiefs Race Night on Thursday 2nd June priced at £37.50p. Just go to the website to book.
David Probert was in great form at Bath on Friday, where he rode a double, and did even better at Haydock on Saturday, riding three winners in races shown on ITV4.
Valley Forge’s victory in a two mile handicap needed all his skill and determination, for the horse repeatedly lugged to the left, risking interfering with his opponents. Probert straightened him up and got him going despite dropping his rein briefly. He took the lead in the last few strides to win by a head. He’d ridden this useful sort to win the prestigious Melrose Handicap at last year’s Ebor meeting.
He then won the £100,000 Silver Bowl over a mile on Whoputfiftyinyou, coming from last to hit the front in the last half furlong. He took a while to pull up afterwards. It was an interesting booking, as Probert doesn’t ride for Clive Cox often. The horse has now won all his four races, never by very much – half a length was the verdict in this race – and the Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot is next on the agenda.
Then came triumph in the Group 2 Temple Stakes over five furlongs on The Queen’s five-year-old King’s Lynn. He came from behind to lead inside the final furlong and then hold on to a rapidly-diminishing advantage and was a head in front at the post. King’s Lynn is in three races at Royal Ascot.
Probert’s form at Haydock that day was 3113123. His winning treble paid 209/1.
As usual, a strong Welsh contingent made the cross-country trek to Fakenham on Sunday, but the best of them was Adam Wedge’s second place on Laura Morgan’s hat trick-seeking Percussion.
Monmouthshire’s Nikki Evans trained her first winner of the year at Bath on Friday. More Than Likely’s 40/1 SP indicated she was a less than likely winner, but clues were there if you looked back through her form. Her latest run was her best for some time; she was only beaten three and a half lengths and didn’t get a clear run. She had won four times earlier in her career when trained by Richard Hughes, was rated 88 at her peak, and was running now off 54. Winners can be like buses, though; you wait ages for one and then another comes along straight away. Evans has entries at Bath on Tuesday and Warwick on Wednesday.
