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MID DIV AND CREEP: Will be sent out under Rules this season
photo: Jackie Oliver

With Alan and Lawney Hill's outstanding success record, it is little wonder that they attract new owners and horses to their stables every season.

Earlier this year Lawney's yard gained a new sponsor, local IT company Prolinx, one of whose major players, Andy Weller, is an owner at the Woodway Farm premises. In conjunction with Lawney Hill Racing, Prolinx will also be supporting RAFBF (the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund), a charity which provides support to RAF families.

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Among those attending the Owners' Day were some of the professional jockeys who ride for the yard, including David Bass, who won Point-to-Pointing's Wilkinson Sword in 2007/8, and is now based with Nicky Henderson. David learned his trade, and no doubt a few other things besides, at the John Manners School of Life, so he must be finding Lawney's ever-present sense of fun extremely subdued compared to the humour of his eccentric former employer.

David is already making quite a name for himself in the paid ranks, but if Lawney has anything to do with it he is about to rise to the very top of the tree, as she stressed to those present that he had recently produced both the ride of the season and the ride of the century (only another 89 years to go) on two of her charges. A.P. McCoy, who's he?

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James Tudor has been the number one jockey for the Pointers in recent seasons, but John Mathias is very much part of the set-up. "The leg is 100% [John dislocated his hip in April]," he smiled, adding "It's the weight that needs some attention!"

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Every year for the past few seasons Alan has nominated a "milk bottle horse." He suggests that all the assembled audience put a £20 note in a milk bottle each Friday night leading up to the start of the campaign and put all the savings on his selection at the first Cottenham fixture.

This year the spotlight has fallen on the aptly-named Money Tree, who has been placed over hurdles. Alan, though, is confident he can considerably improve the five-year-old, whose previous handler was a young trainer from the North West, name of McCain, struggling to make his mark in the professional game.

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Alan's owners who take his advice will be hoping to recoup their losses, as last season's milk bottle horse, Viel Gluck, let the side down when coming to grief soon after halfway. He will start off between the flags before possibly moving to Lawney's yard to run in Novice Chases, hopefully with a new owner, as he is on the market.

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The ability to transfer horses from the amateur to professional yard and vice versa is an arrangement which works well, and one who is making the latter move is Fly Direct, who is also for sale. He ran for Jimmy Frost before joining Lawney, and is still a maiden under all codes, so will start off at the lowest level in Points. He is reported to be going well at home.

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According to Alan, three coachloads of supporters/hecklers will be leaving the yard on November 27 to go to Black Forest Lodge, where the Hills' son Joe, who will be 16 in October, is likely to be making his debut on Sarahs Gift. The chestnut has won six Chases for Lawney but is now in the grip of the handicapper, having gone from a mark of 69 up to 113, so a career change as Joe's schoolmaster is in the offing.

The whole of Aston Rowant Cricket Club could be out in force, and several professional riders have also already booked their place, presumably hoping they may learn something. No pressure there then, Joe.

Naturally it was the teenager himself who was proudly showing off Sarahs Gift, and as he exited stage left after the build-up his salute to his father was interpreted by Alan as "Joe is telling us that he's going to ride two winners this year.........."

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Joe's sister Gaby will be reunited with Ocean du Moulin, on whom she triumphed three times in 2010/11 after a hesitant beginning (in the corresponding contest to that earmarked for Joe) which saw her dumped at the start and her partner having a final gallop across some unthawed plough at the Devon venue.

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New to the yard is Derek Harding-Jones's Gooner Girl, who will have a run in a Bumper prior to a campaign between the flags. "She was bought for her owner to have a quiet ride round the lanes, but he hasn't ventured out yet," grinned Alan.

Derek had to get permission from his beloved Arsenal Football Club in order to name the mare. "I told them I'd been a season ticket holder for 70 years," he said. "It was only a little fib, as it's actually 68!" The nod was readily given, so whether the Point-to-Point courses of East Anglia will be awash with red and white remains to be seen.

It is said that those who own dogs develop some of the same characteristics, although whether this applies to horse owners isn't such a well-publicised fact. Suffice to say that Alan pointed out "She hates anyone going in her stable when she has her food."

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Also based in the East Anglian area is Malcolm Kemp, whose Wallbro was sent to the Hills to make use of their extensive schooling facilities. He ran in a Bumper in March and is likely to have a run over hurdles before returning to his owner for Pointing.

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A trio to run in Alan's colours are the veteran Balladeer, whose three Ladies' Open victories helped Emily Harbour to win the South Midlands area championship, the diminutive Mysaynoway, whose forte is long-distance events, and Whats Up Doc, successful on the flat and over hurdles and fences for Lawney. Like Sarahs Gift, he has risen too high in the handicap so a Ladies' race campaign is on the agenda.

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One of the stars of Alan's yard in 2010/11 was Start Royal, who finished runner-up in the pointtopoint.co.uk/PPORA Young Horse national championship. Still only a seven-year-old, Start Royal, whose enthusiasm on the gallops is "quite high," commented Alan, may run before Christmas at both Cottenham and Whitfield before embarking on a Hunter Chase crusade.

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The other superstar, though, Mid Div And Creep, will not be seen between the flags. She is set to join Lawney's yard with a view to Handicap Chasing.

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