Outer Space rockets Bridgend trainer to victory
CONGRATULATIONS to Kenfig Hill trainer John Flint on landing his first winner at Leicester since the start of the racing lockdown on Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
His Outer Space, at nine the oldest horse in the race, won the seven-furlong sprint under George Rooke.
In an exciting finish, Outer Space got home by a neck from Pumaflor, with Rock Warbler a further neck away in third spot.
Flint, a former Margam Steelworks manager, is assisted by his wife Martine and sons Tom and Rhys, and enthusiasts will recall his former good winners Fair Along, Kayf Moss, Sigwells Club Boy and Lac Sacre.
Meanwhile, there cannot be many jockeys who can claim to have ridden in both the Derby and the Grand National. However, I can name three and, as it happens, all three were Welsh!
They were Barry-born George Bowden, Llanelli-born DL “Davy” Jones and Swansea’s John Williams.
Bowden won the Welsh Grand National at Cardiff’s Ely Racecourse on Sir David Llewellyn’s Miss Balscadden in 1928. The late trainer Posy
Morell told me, many years ago now: “George was a handsome and likeable fellow who rode winners for my father, Ralph Morell, and later myself.’’
Another long gone hunt-racing stalwart who knew him was St Athan farmer Jack Thomas, who recalled: “I knew George well. We both schooled horses together in our younger days and I recall him riding a filly in the Derby, which is a very rare thing indeed. It was called Stampede and was owned by Dr Sixsmith of Cowbridge, who used to ride the filly on his rounds. Anyway, it trailed in last.’’
Bowden was the only jockey to have ridden in the Welsh Grand National before and after the Second World War.
As for David Lewis Jones, he was one of the most versatile jockeys in the history of the turf. Perhaps his greatest moment during his long racing career was when he won the 1945 Cheltenham Gold Cup on Red Rower. In 1938 at Aintree, he set some sort of a record by riding in a flat race, a hurdle race and a steeplechase in the same afternoon.
The steeplechase was the Grand National, in which he finished sixth on Red Knight 11. Davy was 63 when he won the Kenya Derby on outsider Verre Dorre.
John Williams, who was apprenticed to the legendary Welsh trainer
Fulke Walwyn, rode his first winner on the flat for Morriston trainer Dr Arthur Jones in an apprentice race at Kempton Park in 1967. Ten years later he was leading the field by some 30 lengths in the 1977 Aintree Grand National on Boom Docker when a loose horse caused his mount to refuse at the 17th fence.
BRIAN’S BLAST FROM THE PAST
This is what I reported in the Western Mail back in the May of 1987:
“Philip Williams rode his first winner at the Ystrad Hunt point-to-point steeplechases since breaking his back in a fall at Hereford five years ago.
“Riding Keith Pritchard’s Knock on the Head in the restricted open, the 33-year-old auctioneer from Tonyrefail came with a well-timed challenge to win by three lengths from Jump To The Beat after being slowly away.
“In the adjacent, Amsam, the 20-1 outsider of three, gave 19-year-old Vivian Hughes his first winner. Polrone, ridden by John Llewellyn, refused to start and the odds-on Murray’s Gift, fell at the eighth fence.
“Tim Jones, who rode Murray’s Gift, notched up a double with Loch Raven in the men’s open and Sweet Rascal in the maiden.
“Loch Raven was winning over the Llantwit Major course for the third time.”
For the record, in a match for the members’ race, Jon Parry Keen, riding the odds-on Le Champ Talot, beat Appalante. Heather McCaul won the ladies’ open race on 10-1 chance Nun Owen.
I also reported that: “George Williams, of Magor in Gwent, who was believed to be the country’s longestserving permit-holder, has died.
“George, who was 72, took out a permit 55 years ago and over the years he landed some nice little touches with horses like Stone Mist, House Breaker and The Bank Manager.
“His last winner under Rules was Hayakaze at Hereford last year and his green and black racing colours were well-known to point-to-point fans. He leaves behind his widow Olive, daughter Angela and son Alan.’’
■ Email your racing news and views to brianlee4@virgimedia.com or phone 029 2073 6438.