Herefordshire Horse Steps Into The Limelight

When one Herefordshire horse disappoints, another steps into his place.

At least that's the way it turned out in last weekend's big betting race at Haydock Park.

Venetia Williams's The Outlier was strongly fancied for the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup but it wasn't to be his day. So in came Heltornic, racing out of the handicap, from Michael Scudamore's yard at Bromsash and ridden by the trainer's grandson Tom, to claim a famous victory.a

It really was a tremendous, heart-warming run in heavy going by the mare which will now be put up substantially in the ratings.

Compensation for the Kings Caple stables came in the form of Mon Mome which ran on into third place, taking the seven-year-old gelding's career earnings past the £100,000 mark.

Both those Herefordshire yards are likely to be represented at Hereford Racecourse's next fixture on Monday.

The whole afternoon is sponsored by the new betting exchange wbx.com, with the feature race being the £12,000 handicap hurdle over three and a quarter mile.

Add on a £10,000 handicap chase and a £9,000 novices' chase too, and there should be decent horses in action.

In all, there are three steeplechases and two hurdle races, with a bumper to round off the day.

Congratulations to our Clerk of the Course Gemma Charrington who has landed a new position as clerk and operations manager at Windsor Racecourse.

We'll all be sad to see Gemma go when she starts her new job next month. She wasn't looking to move but jumped at the opportunity of the promotion when approached.

After training as a clerk at Sedgefield Racecourse in County Durham, she joined Hereford Racecourse in 2005, and going to Windsor gives her the first chance to oversee a Flat racing track.

Before Gemma leaves, she'll be in charge of the track here on both Monday 26 February and Monday 5 March. At the second fixture, there will be a free “Festival Fever” Cheltenham preview in the Winning Post pub before racing starts.