Sheila finds a real beauty in novice ace

SHEILA Lewis is not your normal runof-the-mill trainer at the helm of a racing yard – she combines her equine life with running a beauty salon near Brecon.

Last Friday, her chaser Straw Fan Jack gave her a day to remember by winning the two-mile novice chase at Cheltenham.

He jumped well when winning the Dragon Bet Norton’s Coin Novices’ Chase at Ffos Las 12 days earlier and that ability stood him in good stead on this tougher track.

Plans are fluid. Straw Fan Jack wants good ground and his trainer admitted that if he could run in the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, it would be a dream come true.

The Dragon Bet Welsh Champion Hurdle winner Effernock Fizz ran in a twomile handicap chase at Cheltenham on Saturday and was only just run out of it by Dads Lad.

The abandonment of Taunton’s fixture this Wednesday because of hard ground has seen Chepstow step in to take it over.

There was an extra fixture at Ffos Las on Sunday due to Wincanton’s abandonment, where hard ground is an issue. There were no problems in Carmarthenshire, where the going was good to soft, soft in places.

Welsh success was guaranteed in the two-mile handicap hurdle, in which all eight runners had a Welsh trainer, jockey or both. The whole field was closely grouped turning into the straight. Good Impression was one of the smallest horses to run, but he cruised into the lead two out and gave Ben Jones a fairly easy win for trainer Bernard Llewellyn.

Tim Vaughan’s Colonial Empire, ridden by Alan Johns, stayed in touch and was allowed to close to within two-and-a-quarter lengths passing the post.

Earlier, Evan Williams’s Ballinsker made all the running and was still going well when a mistake at the second-last fence ejected the trainer’s daughter Isabel from the saddle. Whether he would have held on against the eventual winner is impossible to say, but he would certainly have given him a run for his money.

It was all the more irritating as Ballinsker hadn’t fallen or unseated in any of his 20 starts over obstacles.

A frustrating day for the stable concluded when Emorelle, ridden by Isabel’s younger sister Eleanor, was just denied in the finale.

Our next fixture at Ffos Las is on Sunday, November 6.