Blow as more P-T-P meetings fall foul of the weather
IN ALL the years I have been reporting on the point-to-point scene I have never known a season like it.
The South Wales and Monmouthshire season should have got under way with the first of the two Curre & Llangibby fixtures at Howick on November 24 but like the the second meeting due to have been staged on February 16 it was rained off.
Another casualty owing to the heavy rain was the Ross Harriers fixture at the Monmouthshire Show ground last Sunday (February 23). It is hoped that these meetings can be rearranged. Of course, it is not only in Wales that point-to-points have been called off left, right and centre and Welsh owners, trainers and riders will be keeping everything crossed that the Duke of Beaufort fixture at Didmarton on March 3 will go ahead as the meeting usually attracts a good number of Welsh entries and racegoers.
Meanwhile, I have met many interesting owners, trainers and riders and none more so than the late John, or Jack as he was more popularly known, Dowdeswell. Fewer braver men have ridden over fences than Jack who with his rather large head, broad shoulders and short legs was not ideally suited to be a jumps jockey.
I was introduced to Jack by the legendary Cowbridge farmer and pointto-point champion rider John Llewellyn in the sponsors’ tent at the Glamorgan Hunt Point-To-Point Steeplechases at St Hillary, Cowbridge, many years ago and I often saw Jack at Chepstow Races where he would always have time for a chat.
Jack, who served with the Royal Horse Artillery during the last war, was champion jockey in the 1946-47 season when he booted home 58 winners. He won a number of big races and these included the Queen Elizabeth Chase, the Imperial Cup and the Grand Sefton. He broke almost every bone in his body and broke his collar bones so often that he had them removed!
He was once told after an horrific injury that he would never ride again. He did but was forced to retire on medical advice in 1960.
Jack, who was still riding out in his 70s, was 94 when he died in 2011 and I’m surprised that a book about him has yet to be written!
BRIAN’S BLAST FROM THE PAST
Writing in the South Wales Echo on December 27, 1984 under the heading “Bookie-basher Dai has eye for winner” I wrote: “The last place you would expect to find racehorses being trained is on the slag- eaps at Ebbw Vale. Yet former steelworker Dai Burchell is doing exactly that with great success.
“Already this jumping season Dai has saddled five winners from his team of 11 horses. His latest, just before Christmas, was Hereford winner Chummy’s Boy, who scored at odds of 10-1.
“A week earlier he sent two horses – Bold Roderick and Cassio Lil – to Haydock Park and they scored at 12-1 and 7-1 respectively. Scores of Dai’s followers backed these horses in £5 and £10 doubles in betting shops in the Cardiff and Valleys and were rewarded with a 103-1 double!
“Another long-priced winner for Dai this season was Kilsyth, who romped home at Newton Abbot at 14-1. No wonder Dai isn’t very popular with betting shop proprietors in the Valleys at the moment!
“Bookie Basher Dai, despite his non-horsy upbringing, has a sharp eye when it comes to spotting future winners. He paid 425 guineas for Chummy’s Boy. And last season Brown Rifle, whom he bought for just 625 guineas, won for him at Stratford and Taunton and was later valued at more than £15,000. An amount of money larger than the golden handshake he received after 25 years of watching sheets of metal slide by at Ebbw Vale Steelworks.
“You won’t find any lords or sirs among the owners that Dai trains for. But you might find a policeman, a solicitor, a civil servant and a bookmaker. Dai has gone on record as saying that every time one of his horses goes to the races it is a trier and with his record you would not dare to doubt him.”
Dai, who in the 1980s turned down the chance of moving to a new purpose-built yard in Stoke with allweather gallops, a swimming pool and a large indoor riding school, is still saddling winners and long may he do so.
■ Please email your racing news and stories to brianlee4@virginmedia.com or phone 029 2073 6438.