DIARY – MARKET RASEN – SUNDAY 03 AUGUST 2008
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Choc had 3 rides scheduled for today – Southern
Regent for Alan King in the 2nd race (hurdle), plus Keltic
Lord in the 6th race (steeplechase) and Willowpattern
(owned by HRH The Princess Royal, trained by Alan) in the final race (NH flat
race). Market Rasen is a right-handed course and,
as you can see the entire course from the lawn areas, there was no big screen
showing the action. I set out from home at around 09:25, Market Rasen being approximately 143 miles away, in North
Lincolnshire. I decided to join the A1(M) near Welwyn Garden City and I encountered very heavy
rainfall west of Stevenage. It took
around an hour to reach the Huntingdon turning (note for August Bank Holiday Monday). The
A1(M), having become a standard A-road north of Stevenage, again became a
motorway around Peterborough, and there were road-works at a couple of
locations (but this didn’t delay me) before I reached Newark and the Lincoln
turnoff onto the A46 (which comes up from Evesham and through Stratford Upon
Avon – possibly Choc’s route from the Cotswolds?). The road to Lincoln was good, as was the bypass,
where I was travelling behind David Pipe’s horsebox for a short distance. The A46 after Lincoln is okay, if a little
winding. I didn’t hit traffic until
Market Rasen itself, where a queue was held up by
the traffic lights in the centre of the town (very old world). I went
straight on at the lights, then turned into Legsby
Road, which
is signposted to the racecourse and another right turn into the car park,
destination reached at 12:10 – a journey time of 2 hours 45 minutes. Having parked my car, I walked along the road to
the entrance and purchased a County Enclosure ticket (giving me more options
for viewing as I could stand by the winning post and the horse walkway to the
course). I also purchased a race-card,
then walked down past the Weighing Room/Winner’s
Enclosure, taking a seat on a bench situated on the lawn of the County
Enclosure to wait for the first race. I was joined on the seat by a couple
and their two children - I later noticed that the children appeared to be
recovering from chickenpox (nice!). The first race came and went, and I didn’t even
notice the entry point where the jockeys came into the Parade Ring. Nor did I go to the Winner’s Enclosure to
welcome back the winner. Anyway, as the horses started to arrive in the
paddock for the second race, I decided to go down to the rails to see
Southern Regent and the jockeys arrive, which they did through the furthest
entrance from me, having walked down from the Weighing Room to the eastern
side of the Owners’/Trainers’ stand. Choc won the race, his 26th winner of the season,
so I walked back up to the Winners’ Enclosure to see him return. He dismounted very close to me, and turned
to face in my direction as he was giving his explanation of the race to the
owners, suggesting that Southern Regent could probably handle a longer
distance. As he was less than 10 feet
away from me it was pleasing just to listen to his voice. He had his photo
taken with the horse and owners, and then disappeared inside the Weighing
Room. I stayed to watch the presentation ceremony before returning to the
County Enclosure. Choc was not due to ride again until the 6th and
7th races, but I viewed the horses in the Parade Ring and the races from my
vantage point near the winning post of the 3rd, 4th and 5th races. Each time I also walked up to the Winners’
Enclosure – all good exercise. I then
put my bright pink raincoat on, as it was now quite chilly. Finally it was
time for Choc to arrive in the Parade Ring again, and this time he took Keltic Lord down to the start first, with very little
walking around the paddock prior to departure. Keltic
Lord is supposed to be slightly temperamental, but Choc is one of two riders
who get on well with the horse, and he coaxed the animal into 4th place. I noticed the saddle he was using was tiny
– little more than something to attach stirrups to! I’d not noticed that he
used such a small saddle before – the weight the horse was carrying was
pretty low so I suppose that was the reason. Again I returned to the Winners’ Enclosure to see
Choc dismount, in 4th spot. He leaned
against the white rail whilst explaining to the trainer about the horse’s run
– so I had a pleasant rear view! When Choc arrived in the Parade Ring for his
final ride I took a number of photos.
Choc and Gerard Tumelty (who was riding
Princess Anne’s other horse) were looking a little lost as, of course, there
was no owner present. Anyway, once mounted he took an extra turn around the
paddock before going out onto the course. Choc finished in 5th or 6th place I
believe. I went up to the Winner’s enclosure again, and
waited for him to dismount in the Pre-Parade ring and give his explanations
about Willowpattern’s run (presumably to the
Princess’ representative). I also noticed our helpful valet, Shane, leaning
against the Winner’s Enclosure railings. Anyway, that was that for the day, so I went to
the loo and walked back to the car park, having contributed £2 to the charity
collection at the entrance. I arrived back at my car, ate a few dinosaur wine
gum sweets and then joined the queue out of the car park and along the lane to
Market Rasen.
It was 18:00 before I cleared Market Rasen
town centre, taking the A46 back to Lincoln and Newark. The A1 was clear all the way home, although there had been a couple of accidents, with police in attendance on the north bound carriageway. The weather got wetter as I drove south and, evidently, it had been rather unpleasant in Hertfordshire all day. I arrived home at 20:40. I also noticed I had a slightly sunburnt neck – the weather had been better than I realised – white fluffy clouds, although a little windy, and chilly as the day went on. I’d used ¾ of a tank of petrol for my trip. |
