DABINETT MOON ENJOYS THE SUN

THERE is something about Stratford summer nights that brings out the best in Dabinett Moon (above, right).

The nine-year-old added the Skinner’s Ladies’ Open

Point-to-Point Championship Final to her success in the

2015 Subaru final for the horse’s owner-breeders Fran and Christopher Marriott.

Both victories — the nine-year-old’s sole strikes outside point-topoints — have come in the hands of Claire Hardwick, who could not conceal her delight after denying the favourite, Patricktom Boru, in the extended 2m 6f race.

Claire, who has been associated with the mare since breaking her in for the Marriotts, said: “She’s so tough and she tries so hard. She hasn’t been at her best pointing this year, but I knew she still had it in her, and this means the world to me.”

By halfway, Claire had Dabinett Moon shadowing Jodie Hughes on Patricktom Boru, who had led from the fourth fence, before going ahead two out. The mare appeared set for a comfortable success before landing awkwardly over the last. She prevailed in a gutsy fashion by one-and-a-quarter lengths, with Invisible Man and Josephine Banks 12 lengths away in third.

Dabinett Moon had finished second in hunter chases during

May — to Frelia in the mares’ race at Cheltenham and to Abbeyview at Towcester — and Chipping Norton-based owner Fran Marriott believes it is no coincidence her wins under Rules have come in early summer.

“She likes some sun on her back,” she said. “Early this season she didn’t seem quite at her best.”

Dabinett Moon, a daughter of Midnight Legend, will eventually head to the breeding shed, but that day remains some way off.

“That’s for when she’s fed up with being a racehorse,” said Marriott.