19 February 2009 Report: Cambridge University Draghounds - Cottenham
Andrew Braithwaite may be looking for new lodgings after getting the better of his great friend, Rupert Stearn, in a thrilling finish to the Mens Open Race at the Cambridge University Draghounds Point-To-Point at Cottenham on Sunday.
Braithwaite replaced regular rider George Greenock, who is laid up with a broken thumb, aboard Caveman, trained at Wymondham by Nibby Bloom, while Stearn was astride the Pointing debutant, Coat Of Honour. The pair had a ding-dong battle up the run-in but it was Caveman who prevailed by a neck with the fast-finishing favourite Gentle George just half a length back in third.
Braithwaite, an accountant from Ashdon, near Haverhill, is currently staying with Stearn near Wymondham while he audits the accounts of a firm in Norwich, so the atmosphere across the breakfast table this week may be a bit frosty.
After a two-week absence caused by the cold snap, it was great to be racing once again, especially as the East Anglians managed to overcome a large raiding party from outside the region to land five of the eight races.
Trainer-rider David Kemp was responsible for a pair of these triumphs, first on Viceroy Close in the Restricted Race, and later Captain Marshall in the second of two short Maiden Races.
The Restricted was particularly satisfying for one of Viceroy Close's three owners, Helen Robson, from Hatfield Broad Oak, as she also part-owns the 25 length runner-up, Ballynonty, who is trained at Semer by Tory Hayter.
A Vietnamese meal while in Paris last weekend cost trainer-jockey Fleur Hawes, from Bressingham, the chance of a winning ride on Scotland Yard in the Ladies' Open. The resulting bout of food poisoning, and subsequent loss of half a stone, left her too weak to participate, although the ease of Scotland Yard's five-length victory under Claire Allen suggested the result would have been the same regardless of riding arrangements.
Another trainer-rider, Alex Embiricos, from Bradfield St George near Bury St Edmunds, got off the mark for the season as a jockey when making almost all the running on her own Sirius Storm in the Hunt Members, beating Saafend Rocket by seven lengths.
A sixth East Anglian win was narrowly foiled in the Intermediate Race as the Leicestershire-trained Ronan The Warrior held off Top Boots by a length and a half. Top Boots, trained at High Easter, near Chelmsford, by Simon Marriage, was the outsider of the field yet so nearly repeated the shock victory he achieved on his previous visit to this venue back in 2006; however, a battle from the last eventually saw Ronan The Warrior prevail by two lengths to give jockey William Bissill his first win.
