Picture special - Action from Shelfield Park's annual racing event
A TORRENTIAL downpour failed to dampen the spirits of organisers of the second Shelfield Park point-to-point meeting on Saturday (18th March).
The card consisted of seven races along with two pony events and the clerk of the course said those who rode had given positive feedback about the course, which is midway between Alcester and Henley.
Organised by the Croome and West Warwickshire Hunt, Shelfield Park hosts just one meeting each year with the first, in 2021, being held behind closed doors due to Covid restrictions.
Nick Pearce, the clerk of the course, said there had been plenty of positives.
He explained: “The jockeys said the course rode very well and even though there were a lot of meetings on the day, we had a good number of runners in the latter races.
“There are still areas where we need to look at things and it might be that we look at the position of the marquees so that we can improve the viewing.”
Last year’s event was the first with spectators and some changes had been made following feedback from that meeting. This year also saw pony racing introduced.
Nick added: “It’s mad the effort that goes in to getting a couple of hours of racing on on a Saturday afternoon, but this is a passion for me. I rode in them and now I have a horse running which I trained myself.”
There was to be no dream ending for Nick having overseen a frantic few weeks at the course as his horse, Mr Love, finished third in the opening race in spite of starting as the odds-on favourite.
Jockey Oliver Boyden won that one on Shoal Bay and went on to claim second in another race later in the day.
Nick added: “This is the grassroots of racing; it is where everyone starts. You look at the professional jockeys riding at the moment, the likes of Harry Skelton and Sam Twiston-Davies, and they started in point-to-point as did most of the Irish riders.
“And because of that there is a good chance that anyone who goes to watch a meeting will see a future champion rider or horse which is one of the brilliant things about pointing.
“You find a lot more hardcore racegoers going to watch with some of the older faces never wanting to miss a meeting and travel all over the country. On top of that we always attract new followers from the surrounding area, from Stratford, Alcester and Redditch.”
The course lies just around the corner from Dan Skelton’s yard and there are strong links between the two sites with Nick and his wife, who are both on the committee at Shelfield Park, working with the National Hunt trainer who also sponsored one of the races.
