Three Bells Ring Out At Hereford

Racehorse owner Keith Bell will be tripled handed for the major racing occasion of the year at Hereford Racecourse.

Ladies' Day, on Sunday 3 June, features the highest profile race of the season - the £15,000 K W Bell Construction Handicap Hurdle. 

And the sponsor, the chairman of the Bell Group, which has been involved in major housing developments in Herefordshire and much further afield, is hoping to win it for the second time with the horse that was the hero two years ago. 

Tom Bell, trained by John O'Shea, is being prepared for another tilt at the race, having also finished third 12 months ago. 

"He'll be trying to win it, but it will be tougher this time." he said. 

Keith has higher hopes of Absolutely The Best which will appear in a steeplechase, and he is aiming to have Forest Lass in the 'bumper' at the end of the afternoon. 

After the horse racing has finished on Ladies' Day, tribute band Counterfeit Abba will be playing on the Pimms Lawn, turning the day into the racecourse's own 'party in the paddock'. 

Herefordshire jockey Liam Treadwell is in superb form, with three winners in the space of just a few days. 

He's beginning to pick up more rides as well as those from Venetia Williams's stables, and two of the recent victories have been for East Midlands trainer John Harris, one at Towcester and another at Market Rasen. 

In between, Liam included a victory for a yard closer to home. He won on Mickey Pearce for Gloucestershire trainer John O'Shea. 

He now boasts a very impressive winner-to-runner strike rate for the main yards for which he rides, and I am sure he will get increasing numbers of chances from other trainers as his ability in the saddle becomes more evident. 

Eastnor trainer Matt Sheppard got off the mark for the 2007/8 campaign at the weekend when Swings 'n Strings won for him at Uttoxeter. 

While we don't take a close interest in Flat racing here at Hereford Racecourse, two classics - the Oaks and the Derby - will have been run by the time of our next meeting on Sunday 3 June. It will be interesting to see if Frankie Dettori will achieve his long-sought ambition of winning the Derby as he is on board the red hot favourite Authorised at Epsom on Saturday week.