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ASHTOWN BOY: One of 12 entries for the opening race of the season at Cottenham
photo: Jackie Oliver

Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen could be in action at Cottenham, near Cambridge, on Sunday as the 2011-12 Point-to-Point season gets under way with the Cambridge University United Hunts Club fixture.

The prolonged dry spell means that the going is likely to be ‘firm' and as a result a relatively low entry of 81 horses has been received for this six-race meeting, which gets under way at noon and runs through until 2.55pm.

Waley-Cohen's possible mount is Ashtown Boy, who has eleven potential rivals in the opening PPORA Club Members Race. They include a couple of prolific recent winners in She Is A Cracker and Timeshift plus, in the shape of The Rodeo Clown and Tumbling Dice, a pair of useful performers from the Cowlinge, near Newmarket, yard of John Ferguson, who has been in brilliant form under Rules recently.

The Ladies Open, due off at 1.10pm, is the first of 28 races in the AGA-sponsored Ladies Open Championship which has a Hunter Chase final at Cheltenham on May 2. Ten are engaged here including the classy Kicks For Free, who won twice at this course last season.

Caroline Fryer, from Wymondham, near Norwich, enjoyed a fabulous first term with a trainers licence in 2010-11 and she has an interesting new acquisition in the shape of Working Title, a five-time scorer under National Hunt rules who holds entries in both the Ladies and Men's Open races.

The Men's version has nine engaged among whom, Qozak, a multiple scorer in the professional code and already proven on a firm surface, is, like Working Title, also a possible for the Ladies. One to look out for here is Ravethebrave as his trainer, Alan Hill, has an outstanding record at this venue.

Cottenham is four miles north of Cambridge near the B1049, post code CB24 8RG. It is best approached using junction 33 of the A14.

Take the A10 signed for Ely. Then take the third left (after the Park and Ride and the Recycling Centre) to Landbeach. Go straight through the village of Landbeach, past the playing field, and take the first left out the other side. The course is half a mile further down this road.

Admission will be charged at £10 per head with children under 17 allowed in for free.

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