DIARY – NEWBURY – DAY 2 BET365 FESTIVAL
FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2015
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Ardamir in the Parade Ring ahead of the Juvenile
Hurdle This particular trip was a late
addition to my racing programme; I was already on annual leave and hopeful that
Choc might attend due to one of the Dunkley and Reilly Partnership horses,
Ardamir, who was also making his British debut, having an engagement in the
first race of the day. My outfit today was two long-sleeved thermal heatgen t-shirts – purple and plum, one long-sleeved heatgen teal coloured roll-neck top. Also a teal coloured cardigan, purple
fleece, black gillet, grey thermal tights, beige
zip-up jeggings, short floaty
material hanky hem style M & S skirt in teal/beige/brown, flint-coloured
Danville Hotter ankle boots and a pair of socks, a teal anorak, long striped
multi-coloured wrist-warmers, a multi-coloured River Island fabric scarf,
horse-design black/white cowl, and my capacious burgundy/brown/pink Next
handbag. This sounds like items on the
conveyor belt of the Generation Game! And I almost forgot to mention my earrings – the
Fired Creation ones I wore to Aintree.
There was no need to wear a necklace, as I wouldn’t wear one over a
roll-neck top because all of my necklaces are short ones. My boobs prevent me from wearing long
necklaces, as they would be dangling off a cliff! Roll-necks are new to my collection too,
again difficult to wear with a large chest, as are any form of high neckline;
however, I’ve become delicate in my old age and now wish to keep warm at all
costs! I got up at my usual work day
time, between 06:30 and 06:45 and, although this gave me plenty of time to
get ready, I still didn’t leave home
until 09:33; my aim had been around 09:15. I travelled via the ring-road,
anti-clockwise, where a ‘white van man’
at the Ancient Briton junction decided to take advantage by entering the
outside lane which is signed for turning right, only to cut me up having
driven straight on; typical. Subsequently
I drove up Bluehouse Hill, along King Harry Lane,
followed by Watford Road, down the dual carriageway, before turning right
onto the M25 anti-clockwise carriageway at Junction 21A. I headed around to the M4 in order to join
the westbound carriageway, but I had to stop off at the services between J11
and J12 to spend a penny! I ate two of
the cheese rolls whilst I was in the car park, and then wended my way back
along the service road to the motorway once more. I left at junction 12 and headed along the A4
through Woolhampton and Thatcham
to Newbury. There is a different road
layout on what was a dual carriageway leading up to the Aldermaston
roundabout – it’s now painted as a single carriageway. There was a group of workmen next to the
main road just prior to Woolhampton; possibly
working on the utility services for a number of new houses which had been
built beside a service road to the left. I’d received a tweet the previous day notifying
attendees of the new road and car park layout which was in operation for the
Hennessy Festival fixture. It was
suggested that all traffic heading in from the west, north and east should
use the new bridge, approaching via the A4; with vehicles arriving from the
south using Racecourse Road off the A339. I arrived at Newbury racecourse at around 11:30.
The new bridge is impressive, arching high above the great western railway
line, and towering over the fitness centre situated to the right-hand side
upon entry. The golf course’s
clubhouse appears to have become a victim of the bridge building; I’m not
sure if they have a new clubhouse located elsewhere, but the club’s website
suggests that golf continues to be played on the 9-hole, 18-tee course which
lies within the track. At the far end of the bridge is a roundabout,
where I turned right to head towards the racecourse’s main enclosures. The tarmaced road
soon bears to the right, at which point I was instructed to turn left and
enter a muddy track beside a grass-covered parking area. Vehicles were parked along the right-hand
side of the track, including the Fuller’s Brewery vehicle bringing a dray and
two shires to the racecourse to parade ahead of the Grade 2 Fuller’s London
Pride Novices’ Chase. Cars belonging
to a number of bookmakers were parked on the grass nearest the entrance, and
a number were still unloading their equipment. There was also a large crane positioned
within the cordoned off area to my right, where the old derelict stand used
to be; indicating that another block or blocks of apartments were now under
construction. Those spectators who had already purchased
tickets were able to enter via the same gate as the bookmakers; straight onto
the area in front of the Dubai Duty Free Stand. As I didn’t have a ticket, and a lady
steward did ask me whether I had or not, I had to walk around to the entrance
I usually use, which faces the railway line.
The old turnstiles had been removed, and replaced by a temporary
marquee-like structure; next to the permanent gate structure was the owners’
and trainers’ entrance, then the ticket purchasing counter, the ticket
holders entrance and finally the ticket collection point! Entry today cost £20.00. Once inside I purchased a race-card for £3.00 and
then headed along the concourse to the Parade Ring. Normally I’d reach the steppings
above the paddock via a passageway to the left of the betting office but, for
this fixture, a row of retail outlet tents had been erected – Hennessy High
Street – along the rear of the main concourse and it was impossible to squeeze
through the gap, unless you were particularly skinny! Instead, on this occasion, I passed to the
right of the aforementioned betting office to reach the rails surrounding the
Parade Ring before turning right to walk along the lowest level, stopping a
little further along. There were a number of hounds just leaving the
Parade Ring, evidently huntsmen from the Vine and Craven had been in
attendance at 11:30. There had been a
jockey autograph signing session at 11:25 in the IJF tent on Hennessy High Street;
I’d missed that, so don’t know which jockeys were in attendance. Although I do know that, on Saturday, it
was Leighton Aspell and Sam Twiston-Davies
doing the honours. A large screen on which to view the racing has
recently been installed to the far corner of the Parade Ring and; upon
flicking through the race-card I found an artist’s impression of the intended
development of the paddock area. The
Winners’ Enclosure will be shifted to the south-western end of the Parade
Ring and it appears that, when the separate Premier Enclosure is in operation
on big race days, those customers will have better viewing access to this
area than standard grandstand ticket holders; typical. This is not the case at present. I recollect that the initial plan was to move the
Weighing Room to the far side of the Parade Ring, from its current location
within the Berkshire Stand. This
appears to have been usurped by hospitality pavilions instead. This is
presently the area where Alan King and other trainers saddle their horses,
some in closed boxes to the eastern end of the area. The new owners’ and trainers’ facility will
be reduced in footprint, but increased to two floors. The new Pre-Parade Ring and saddling boxes
will be squeezed into the space between this facility and the hospitality
pavilions. There will also be a brand
new eastern entrance building. Work on this phase is due to begin in early
2016 and is scheduled to be completed in around 18 months. The first stage of the racecourse development has
more or less been completed. This includes the new eastern bridge, the newly
laid out and landscaped car park 4, the owners’ and trainers’ car park, the
stable staff accommodation building known as ‘The Lodge’, and also the Rocking Horse Nursery. However, work was still being carried out
on a handful of dwellings adjacent to the 3 miles 2 furlong ‘Hennessy’ starting gate. The main Premier Enclosure parking area
within the centre of the racecourse has been in operation for a number of
seasons now ... but it’s not as nice as car park 4! I love car park 4, as I was fortunate
enough to arrive early the following day to take advantage of it!!! Olly
Bell was presenting for RUK today, taking advantage of the overhanging roof
to the back of the Berkshire Stand to provide protection from any showers
today. I didn’t have long to wait until the first race
of the day, which was due off at 12:25; however, once the horses and
connections had arrived in the Parade Ring it became apparent that although
the blonde
lady was in attendance, presumably a member of the ‘Reilly’ half of the Partnership, Paul Dunkley was not. Sadly, there was no sign of Choc either;
perhaps he was looking after William today.
Oh
well, I’d rather go to the races and then discover Choc is not there, than
not go to the races and then later find out that he was! Fingers crossed he would be at Newbury the
following day to see the partnership’s Ned Stark compete in the Hennessy Gold
Cup. Strangely,
Ardamir has similar facial markings to Ned Stark – a star, although much
smaller, and a long snip, although narrower!
Major Mac led having jumped the
first flight and was well clear as they headed down the back straight. He was
still ahead until Kasakh Noir, The Coffee Hunter and Ardamir joined him
heading over the penultimate flight.
At this point Kasakh Noir cruised into the lead and, having cleared
the last, went on to win by 16 lengths. It turned out to be a
disappointing run from Ardamir; having been close enough to make a challenge
two out, he began to lose touch with the front three and was then relegated
to 5th on the run up to the line. Did
he need the run, did he not like the soft ground, or was there something
amiss? Ardamir’s next run, on 16
December again at Newbury, proved to be even less memorable when he pulled up
in the home straight having dropped to the rear of the 8 runner field. There must be something amiss ... as both
Alan King and Choc think a lot of the horse. Kasakh Noir sports the familiar
racing colours of Tim ‘Somersby’
Radford; it’s the first horse he’d sent to the Skeltons and had now won on
debut for them. Tim’s company, Timico,
was subsequently announced as the new sponsor of the Cheltenham Gold
Cup.
There were no Alan King-trained
runners in the next race.
Vision Des Champs led for much of
the race, and was well clear of his rivals beginning the journey down the
back straight; his lead much reduced by the end of it. Rouge Et Blanc took over at the head of
affairs having cleared four out, and he was shadowed by Mon Successeur. Heading down to the last, these
two were pulling well clear of the others and Rouge Et Blanc was faster into
his stride having jumped it. Now over
a length down, Mon Successeur did rally under pressure and although he closed
the gap slightly, the Oliver Sherwood runner won by three quarters of a
length. Jockey Tom Garner explained that
the winner has a mind of his own, but he loves the horse regardless!
There were no Alan King-trained
runners in the next race.
One of the two mares Grape Tree
Flame led the field until after the 5th flight; Missed Approach took over and
remained ahead of his rivals to win by 12 lengths from Billy No Name. The winner had been absent from the
racetrack for almost a year. I liked Billy No Name, which had
travelled quite close to the pace for much of the race, and there’s a picture
of him amongst my photographs. Sykes
threw away his chance of being runner-up with a blunder at the last flight.
Alan King ran the mare L’Unique
in the next race, a Grade 2 Novices’ Chase.
She is a Grade 1 winning hurdler, having captured Aintree Festival’s
Juvenile Hurdle in April 2013. However,
she’d finished a remote third on her chasing debut at Wincanton on 07
November but there were extenuating circumstances that day; firstly she’d
been frightened during the race by a steward wearing a yellow hi-viz jacket
and almost ran out as a result then, subsequently, she’d been hampered.
The larger and lighter grey
Maximiser led until the 11th fence, at which point he crumpled on landing and
fell; having been badly hampered by this
incident, Sametegal unseated Sam Twiston-Davies and Three Musketeers was also
hampered. Quickly on his feet, Sam
rushed across to check that Joe Colliver was okay because Maximiser had
rolled over him. This departure left
Activial in the lead until the next fence, where he blundered and was headed
by Ubak. The strongly travelling Three
Musketeers then took the lead when Ubak made at error 4 out. The Dan Skelton runner was soon in command
and went on to win by 4½ lengths from Activial; the latter’s jumping having
let him down during the race.
L’Unique, having been outpaced in the home straight, outjumped Ubak at
the last to complete in 3rd. The
latter did well considering he’d been off the track for 945 days; a smart
hurdler in his time, having won a Grade 2 Novice hurdle at Aintree. Maximiser lay on the ground for
quite some time, but did eventually rise.
It transpired he’d been kicked by Sametegal, was sore behind and had
also sustained a problem with his tail. More I should have had a bet on Three
Musketeers, being a big fan of the BBC Musketeers series – I like Santiago
Cabrera.
There were no Alan King-trained
runners in the next race.
According to his preferred style
of racing, Next Sensation took the lead and remained ahead until the 9th
fence, at which point Little Jon took over.
The Paul Nicholls representative, Howlongisafoot, having made an error
at the first fence, subsequently fell at the 10th; Sam Twiston-Davies was
quickly on his feet, as was the horse and he was able to catch hold of
him. It wasn’t Sam’s day! Approaching the second last, the
strong travelling Upepito looked a major danger but, when asked for his
effort on the run-in, he found nought whereas Little Jon stayed on gamely to
win by 2 lengths.
Alan King had a representative
in the next event, the chestnut Board Of Trade.
Champers On Ice made all,
despite not being fluent at many of the obstacles, including the last. Minella Awards, having been held up but in touch, overtook the
second placed Board Of Trade shortly after the last but was always held by
the winner despite staying on.
Alan King had a representative
in the next event, the chestnut Big Chief Benny; this was his hurdling debut,
having been runner-up in both his first and third bumper appearances.
The
favourite Wait For Me led the field until the headed at the last by Buveur D’Air; the latter going on
to win by 11 lengths. Having tracked
the winner throughout the race, Big Chief Benny was close enough to make a
challenge when he blundered 2 out; however he was able to improve into 3rd by
overtaking the weakening Bun Doran before the last flight and claimed this
prize at the line.
There was confusion regarding
the name of the third placed horse – the screen and the judge called it as
one of the non-runners; when pointed out to Wayne Hutchinson by someone
beside the Parade Ring, the jockey jogged back to the Weighing Room to ensure
the error was corrected. Apart from Choc failing to make
an appearance, it had been a good day at the races. The weather had been okay, give or take the
odd shower and, being a weekday, there was plenty of room to stand on the
steppings overlooking the Parade Ring, also beside the course-side rails, and
all points in between! Racing over, I thought it
sensible to pop to the loo within the Dubai Duty Free stand before I began my
return journey to Hertfordshire. I
exited via one of the rear doors to the stand, and headed out of the gates
next to the entry marqees. I headed back to collect my car
from the grassed area beside the racetrack and departed at around 16:25; the
trackway was even muddier than it had been when I arrived and wet mud
splashed up the side of my car once more.
It was dirtier on the driver’s side too. Upon reaching the roadway I turned right
and headed to the roundabout, where I turned left to drive over the
bridge. As it was going home time for
many of the workers employed at the nearby industrial estate, a queue of
traffic had formed on the bridge; so not only was traffic heading down
Hambridge Road towards the roundabout with much frequency, but also out of
the Hambridge Lane Industrial Estate to our right, also with priority over
ourselves. Having finally exited onto the
Hambridge Road, I headed up to the traffic lights where I turned right in
order to return along the A4 via Thatcham.
I’d reached the M4 by 17:00 and joined the eastbound carriageway to
head towards London. And everything
was going really well until further into my journey when signs upon the
motorway warned of severe delays between Junctions 16 and 17 on the M25;
that’s the M40 and Maple Cross.
Great. What to do next? I’m the kind of person who would
rather take a longer route than sit in stationary traffic, so I decided to
leave the M4 at Junction 9/10; the Maidenhead turning. I thus headed along the northbound
carriageway of the A404 towards High Wycombe.
There was a slight delay at the first roundabout I encountered; this
was possibly due to a broken down vehicle in the outside lane. It was parked
mainly in the central reservation, so didn’t pose too much of an obstruction
as such. Having negotiated the
roundabout, I continued in a northerly direction, leaving the dual
carriageway at the Marlow junction.
This was due to there being no point whatsoever in joining the M40 at
the High Wycombe Central junction because that motorway joins the M25 at
Junction 16 so I’d still get stuck on the latter! I turned right at the Marlow roundabout and
headed through Little Marlow, Well End and Bourne End; yet again I was held
up in a jam, this one just prior to Well End. I turned left at the junction at
the far end of Bourne End High Street, then left again further along to reach
Wooburn Green. I took a right at the
green and headed up the steep hill, over the M40 to reach the A40, where I
turned right at the first of a set of double mini-roundabouts and continued
in an easterly direction to Beaconsfield.
Having negotiated the roundabout at the western end of their main
thoroughfare, I encountered another queue of traffic. But, fortunately, the long tailback was
entirely in the outside lane, so I was able to travel to their inside to
reach the next roundabout where I turned left. There was the odd vehicle or two which
cheated and stayed in the inside lane to gain an advantage before pushing
their way into the outside lane further along. Don’t you just hate drivers who take
advantage like that? I headed towards Amersham;
visibility was awful, not because of the weather particularly, although it
was a bit damp, but because of glare from the headlights of oncoming
vehicles. I can see perfectly fine
when there’s nothing heading from the opposite direction, but you add
headlights to the equation and it’s almost blinding. I hate it, but it’s a common problem for
many I understand, especially as they get older. I headed down the steep hill to
Old Amersham in a low gear. Having
negotiated the busy roundabout at the bottom of the hill, I headed straight
across and turned left at the one situated outside a large Tesco store. A short distance along the main High
Street, I turned right just before the old Town Hall, drove past St Mary’s
Parish Church and up the hill to Amersham-On-The-Hill; strange that! I then took the road to Chesham; at Chesham
Bois a driver pulled out in front of me from a road on the right-hand side,
despite there being barely time for him to do so. Just prior to the road
descending into Chesham I encountered a long tailback of traffic again. It came as no surprise when the driver of
the aforementioned car quickly decided to do a u-turn to head back in the
other direction. Patience was
obviously not their strongpoint! I
eventually reached the bottom of the hill and headed along the Chesham
ring-road. At the far end, I turned up
White Hill; the area is so familiar, as Mark and I used to begin rambles from
Chesham on a regular basis. Their
Waitrose branch was also visited many times during our travels. You’d be surprised at the number of
different Waitrose stores I’ve visited ... Berkhamsted, Marlow, Thame,
Chesham and St Albans! Anyway, back to the journey in
hand. Having reached the top of White
Hill, I headed along the road to Bovingdon.
I’m not particular keen on this road, as there are a number of 90
degree turns en route; signs suggested 40mph ... you’d be lucky to do
anything over 30mph in the dark! From
Bovingdon I headed to Boxmoor where, at the traffic lights which were on
green, I turned right to head under the railway bridge that carries the
trains heading to and from Euston. The
railway station is situated a short distance further on and, on a busy Friday
evening, it was difficult to find a break in the traffic exiting the
forecourt in order to cross over the next roundabout. Having finally negotiated the
traffic island, I continued along the A4251 before bearing left and heading
over the river and canal to reach the ‘Magic
Roundabout’; as I was heading to St Albans, I took the right-hand option;
that’s right, left, left, right in order to head up the steep St Albans Road,
whilst being mindful to stay within the 40mph speed limit because there’s speed
camera near the top of the dual carriageway.
There’s a single lane roundabout bypass at Jarman Park, which I
followed before I reached another roundabout where I continued straight
ahead. At
the following roundabout I turned right and headed through Leverstock Green, and began the journey along the Hemel
Hempstead Road, again mindful to keep within the zoned speed limits of 30mph,
40mph and 50mph; it’s an authority ‘cash
cow’ along this stretch of the road, with motorists regularly receiving
tickets for speeding. The
road passes over the M1 and under the A414 before arriving at a roundabout at
the top of Bluehouse Hill. I then headed down to
the Batchwood roundabout. In hindsight it would probably have been
quicker to travel around the ring-road before heading briefly away from home,
to reach my preferred petrol forecourt to top up my tank again. Instead, I decided to go via St Albans City
Centre and thus encountered a queue of traffic in Folly Lane, tailing back
from the main shopping thoroughfare, St Peter’s Street. I
eventually reached the supermarket forecourt and topped up the tank before
continuing to my destination. There
was no queue at the petrol station, although I did have to use pump number 11
in the rear line of pumps. I arrived
home at around 19:15; it had taken almost 3 hours to travel just 70 miles,
thanks to the Friday evening rush-hour.
However, I did catch the tail-end of It Takes Two, which was running a
little late due to the coverage of the Davis Cup Final overrunning. Having
been damp for much of my journey home, there was a sudden heavy shower as I
was unloading my car at the end of the day; I decided not to venture out
again in order to put the car under the carport. The
weather had been okay today, for November.
It was drizzly in St Albans early; as I got wetter than expected when
opening the gates to the carport first thing this morning and also
subsequently when loading my belongings into the car. This continued, on and off, as I headed to
Newbury. It was damp when I stopped
off at the M4 service station just prior to junction 12 too. The afternoon was brighter, with sunshine
at times, but also the occasional shower, as I remember needing my umbrella
at one point. It was drizzly again
when I headed home, followed by the heavy downpour as just mentioned. There
was time to eat an M & S pasta bake meal, before uploading photographs
and updating my blog, then heading to bed earlier than usual, at around
22:00, ahead of a further day at Newbury races; namely Hennessy Gold Cup
Day. Photos - Newbury – Race 1 (Ardamir’s Race) Photos - Newbury – Races 2 & 3 Photos - Newbury – Races 4, 5, 6 & 7 |
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