06 April 2010 Report: North Cotswold - Paxford
by Pete Mansell
Jockey Mark Wall, Owner Sue Collett and Trainer Fergal O'Brien were in unstoppable form during Monday's North Cotswold Point-to-Point at Paxford.
Sue Collett's Bradley walked over for the Members and turned out again later in the afternoon to land the Restricted.
After the disappointment of the walkover in the first, six runners faced the starter in the Conditions. The favourite Kilcascan took up the running at the fourth from home to land the prize for Banbury Owner Rosemary Gasson.
The Collett/O'Brien/Wall bandwagon resumed winning ways in the three-runner Mens Open. Recent Hunter Chase winner Marblehead was a odds-on favourite for this contest and, as Mark Wall admitted afterwards, "the intention was to go off in front, gain a good lead, give him a breather and then go for home, but it did not turn out that way and he's had a hard race".
Swift Sailor led a mile from home but his stamina quickly gave out and Marblehead was nursed over the final three fences to claim the stable's second victory of the afternoon.
Their third came after Bradley's victory in the Restricted. The six-year-old opened up a sizeable advantage three fences from home and was left well clear when Abbotts Mount capsized at the penultimate.
Fergal O'Brien had two of the five runners in the four-to-seven-year-old Maiden with victory going to Physical Features who was left in splendid isolation when Granny Kanzi refused four fences from the finish.
"That was just the job," exclaimed Toddington Owner Geoff Slatter after the race. "I brought him at Ascot in August 2009 because I liked the way he walked and I was always told that if they walked well, they gallop well."
The winner had been trained by the Slatter family earlier in the campaign but with 200 ewes to lamb, the horse was subsequently placed in Fergal O'Brien's hands at Naunton.
Nine horses lined up for the concluding eight-year-old and over Maiden, with victory going to 20-year-old Lara Mahon on Lemonfield, who was sourced from the Mahon's Stratford-based neighbour Aidan Murphy.
