SUN SHONE ON THE TROTTERS
MID WALES & BORDER COUNTIES HARNESS RACING 2018 REVIEW
THE lovely summer of 2018 provided good conditions for harness racing, with no Mid Wales & Border Counties meetings having to be abandoned due to bad weather, although the final meeting for charity, the party for the season, was a little damp.
However, the day’s racing proceeded in its usual enjoyable fashion, with the awards presented to the highest achievers of the year.
The President’s Cups are the oldest of the awards, using a points system. There are two cups, one for novice horses and the other for the open horses. This year the winner of the President’s Cup (novice) was Dernol Yankee, a lovely long-striding horse owned by his breeder Edward Wozencraft from Llangurig but in training with the Hardwick stable in Brecon and usually partnered by Andrew Hardwick.
This horse is certainly one to follow in the next few seasons, as is secondplaced Luminite (Atherton-Rees, Narberth), the five-year-old out of Bon Bethan, who was one of the best mares to have raced with W&BC in recent years. C U Maggie (Bevan, Llanddewi) was only a point behind in third place.
The open winner was Second Affair, owned and trained by the Thomas family from Rhymney and usually driven by Mark Evans from Brecon.
In second place was the late Woodstone Jingo who on his first season with W&BC had given joint owners (Meaney & Harris, Merthyr) lots of fun and certainly claimed many fans with his successes.
In third was the ever-green Ayr Ontario, a smart horse who has again given the Weigel family from Llanddewi Velfrey another fantastic year and helped his driver Louisa Barton into third place in the ladies’ championship race.
Second Affair (Thomas, Rhymney), a mare who made her W&BC debut in 2017, headed the list of prize-winners, notching up 10 wins out of 33 runs with over £2,600 for the season, and she claimed the most improved horse award, moving from the novice grade into the premier Grade A. She was also the winner of the prestigious STAGBI Mares’ race held at Ammanford in June.
Ayr Hero is a horse who hasn’t been racing with Mid Wales for long but this year began to make a name for himself, owned and trained at the Bevan stable in Llanddewi. He was second in the highest prize money list with nine wins and £1,811. This impressive grey is nearly always partnered around the track by Mel Langford, so helping her with championship ambitions.
Third with £1,660 was Lakeside Pan, the horse which is usually one of the backmarkers, finishing the season as he started it, off a trail of 50 yards, but his ability is inspirational.
His driver Wayne Elder presses the button and he surges forward to claim his race, and it’s a joy to watch the delight of his owner, long-time trotting supporter John Elder from New Quay.
Cool Ice (Gething, Ewyas Harold), fourth in the list with eight wins and £1,596, is another talented mare who improved throughout the season, ably assisted by her trainer Derek Pritchard from Rhosgoch.
Woodstone Jingo (Meaney & Harris, Merthyr), with £1,395 in winnings, was also people’s champion for 2018, winning the Eccles Trophy. This is in memory of one of the most enduring trotting horses of the last 50 years, who provided amazing racing for spectators for many years.
Sixth in the prize-winning list was Zestthewayilikeit, one of the most talented mares in training. She raced only 11 times but was victorious on six occasions, claiming £1,310 for the Jones family from Evenjobb. She is surely a seven-year-old with a superstar future.
Immortal Breeze is another mare which has shown us some good racing this season, with £1,285 added to the coffers of the Williams family from Llanafan.
The last in the list of horses with more than £1,000 in prize money was Ithon Inmate (Price, Brecon), now a 10-year-old but he made winning £1,200 look like fun, as always driven by his trainer Derek Pritchard.
This year the Ceredigion meetings organised a new competition based on points gained at their local meetings in memory of one of the true supporters of ‘Cardi’ trotting, Mr Lewis Lewis, who passed away a couple of seasons ago.
Lewis enjoyed trotting horses throughout his life and his family contributed to the award, which because of equal points was split three ways between Ayr Hero (Bevan, Llanddewi), Beg For Mercy (Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn) and Cool Ice (Gething, Ewyas Harold).
Saddle racing is still a favourite with horseowners and the public, and the award for the leading saddle horse this year was Hurricane Howard, owned by the Duggan family from Llangunllo.
The family have been supporters of trotting for most of last century and continue to be wonderful advocates of the grassroots sport, with several junior family members guaranteeing a hopeful future.
The second saddle horse was Habberley Playboy with the same number of wins (three) but with fewer places to his credit. However, this horse continues to reward his joint owners, the Gittins & Johns families from Shrewsbury, claiming another three wins in the sulky.
The saddle jockey of the season was Melanie Langford from Onibury, another with long family links to the past, while Jayne Bevan from Llanddewi, a specialist saddle jockey of many seasons, was runner-up.
The leading driver this year, with 32 wins from 135 starts, was Mark Evans, the young garage mechanic from Brecon who is an owner, trainer, drives his own horses and also picks up many spare drives due to his expertise in the sulky seat.
The runner-up in the drivers’ championship was also from Brecon. Andrew Hardwick has his training stable on the outskirts of the town and achieved 29 wins from 120 races.
The leading lady driver with 19 wins was Mel Langford, proving she is just as competent on the sulky seat as she is in the saddle, while Janet Thomas, the farmer’s wife from Tregroes, was runner-up with 11 wins.
The junior championship is a very important, albeit small part of Mid Wales racing.
This year the leading junior was Ceri Bevan from Llanddewi with five wins, a young lady with support from a family who have been involved with trotting for many years.
Second was Issy John, the fourth generation of the Duggan family from Llangunllo to take part in the sport, and third was last year’s champion Ellie Tromans from Newcastle Emlyn, another girl who helps with the training of the horses at home.
A competitor making her racing debut this year was Martha Duggan from Howey, a cousin of Issy John, who again gains from the long-term family commitment to the sport.
The Special Achievement Award was this year given to the retiring Scooby’s Dream, the grey 13-yearold horse whose statistics are incomparable.
He started racing with W&BC in 2010, having raced previously with Wales & West for a couple of seasons. He raced for nine consecutive seasons, 270 races, 60 wins, 94 places, with total prize money of £10,931.
He has been the people’s favourite for many seasons and he ran his last race in the charity races at Almeley in September 2018.
A week later he and his number one fan, who drove him in so many of his later races, Lynne Boxhall, were out in the hunting field where he starts on his new career as a riding horse.
Next season’s racing begins in May.