Huge success for the Tregaron August Festival 2016

With better weather forecast than in recent years the Tregaron August Festival of Harness Racing had been eagerly anticipated. The first day was largely sunny though on Saturday it was overcast with a few spots of rain but this did not dampen spirits. There was a good crowd in attendance although not as vocal as in previous years and the excitement of the harness racing was undiminished and unabated.

Feature race ~ the ECD Welsh Classic

The feature of Saturday’s racing was the ECD Welsh Classic first run in 1984. This was followed by the Little Welsh Dragoness worth £5,600 in prize money and the Little Welsh Dragon worth £6,150, a prize differential of £550. This prestigious series has captured the imagination of horse owners and has become a major feature of racing at Tregaron.

Significance of the draw

Even though the Dolyrychain Farm course is fair and gives chances to horses coming from behind the results over the two days show how beneficial a good draw can be. On Friday 3 winners came from draw (1) and 2 winners from draw (2), on Saturday 6 winners drawn (1) and 2 drawn (2).

So in total there were 9 from 27 drawn (1) for a 33% strike-rate and 13 from 27 drawn (1 or 2) for 48%. Generally the times were significantly quicker on Saturday with Lyons Mischief and Michael Lord travelling fastest in 2m 2.6. On the first day Ayr Majesty and Richard Haythornthwaite clocked the fastest time in 2m 4.5. The Irish had 5 winners and 7 second places at the Festival and whilst a lot of the races went to form there were one or two disappointments.

Darren Owen approves of draw innovation

The Racing Horse echoes the comments of our commentator Darren Owen, he said: “Congratulations must go to all the winners and to the Tregaron Committee for yet another highly successful festival, which saw, for the first time the draw made several days in advance of the meeting. This innovation proved popular with some but not with everyone, however this harness fan gives it a thumbs up, believing every meeting should be done this way.” Given we have to manage racing on the day more professionally and efficiently it is hard to disagree. The paying public must be given a product that works for them!

 Tremendous day for Team Laidler and Huschka

It was a tremendous day for the Rocker Laidler and Raymond Huschka Team as they took the driver and owner honours on Saturday with three wins and a third place banking £7,500 in the process and winning the prestigious Welsh Classic Final. Rocker also finished fourth in the Little Welsh Dragon 3yo Colts race winning another £350 but this time for owner John Duggan.

The Huschka owned 4yo Evenwood Sonofagun was a heat and final winner for the team at Bells Field last weekend and followed up in similar circumstances under confident drives, this time winning Heat 2 by 3l in a time of 2m 4.4 and then winning the £6,000 Welsh Classic Final again by 3l in 2m 5.0.

The Dan Carlin Award won by Andrew Cairns

The Dan Carlin sponsored Top Driver Award for the 2-day meeting was won by Andrew Cairns beating John Richardson by two points. Congratulations to those two but also to Michael O’Mahony and Mike Evans and of course Rocker Laidler.

Un Pebe wins the Silver Le Trot in some style

The favourite Sacha Of Carless blew his chances of success in the Tregaron Silver Grass Le Trot Series (finished 9th of 10), when breaking and in any case looked to have a bit to do at the time. Un Pebe for Mike Evans won the first prize of £1,000 plus the coveted Ginger Wyatt Memorial Trophy and appeared to have loads in hand at the line winning by an easy 4l. After the race the trotter was bucking and kicking and looked in rude health and hope our photos (courtesy of Pam Moon) showed his exuberance. These races are kindly sponsored by TROTBritain.

Sire Pazenais takes advantage of pole position to win the Gold Division of Le Trot

The Gold Division was a particularly competitive affair. The Mather team had two recent winners in the field namely Sire Pazenais and Soleil D’Attaque and their main challengers, Sulky de Blequin and Tenor Meslois, had to overcome a 20 yard trail. Ultimately this task was asking too much as Tenor Melois did not manage to secure the very best trip and looked a little unfortunate to lose to Sire Pazenais beaten 2l in a time of 2m 47 and a second faster than the Silver Division.

Reminder

Please note there is a programme giving a comprehensive view of the harness racing season in Wales on S4C televison on Monday 29th August 2016 at 9pm. As well as the highlights show, followers of harness racing can watch all of the races and find the latest results at s4c.cymru/rasus and at @S4CRasus

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Available to watch on demand at s4c.cymru, BBC iPlayer and other platforms

Jessies Conquest overcame training issues to win

Prior to racing Marc Thomas Jones would have dreamed of a fabulous feature double. He had fancied runners in the Little Welsh Dragoness 3yo Fillies with Jessies Conquest and the Little Welsh Dragon 3yo Colts with Rockin Mambo. However, he bagged one with the £3,400 fillies event when his charge won by 3/4l from the Irish raider Triplicate in a time of 2m 9. His colt and impressive Tir Prince winner Rockin Mambo did not fire on this occasion and was beaten a long way in the colts division into third place by winner Arts Pace Hill (Andrew Cairns) and Party At The Spa (Alan Haythornthwaite)

The Racing Horse could not attend the opening day of the Festival on Friday so our course correspondent filed us the news.

The first day of the Tregaron Festival shone with the sun out and the horses raring to go and the first race was a modest maiden division that went to local trainer Michael O'Mahony with Symlog Sofia. Unfortunately Briwyns Ruby met the judge first but had galloped 30 yards from the line and therefore demoted.

It was not long before the Irish marauders stepped up to the plate with the Meadowbranch team taking the first two heats with Milli and Ideal respectively. Hendre Bob struck back for the locals in the third heat in the hands of Alan Jones whilst Its My Check, part owned by our excellent commentator Darren Owen, took the fourth heat which was the fastest heat of the day. The Apprentice and Andrew Cairns took the final heat.

The Junior Dragoness was dominated by Rhyds Mystique who has been the pick of the 2yo fillies this year and only blotting her copy book in the final of the Vincent Delany Memorial in Ireland two weeks ago but the colts race became a great duel in the home straight between two of our senior drivers Michael Lord and Steve Lees driving Rhyds Ideal and Johnny Camden respectively. Stevie came out on top on this occasion.

The Big Guns Leg provided the best finish of the day with six horses lunging at the finish line with barely a length separating them. Ayr Majesty took the spoils with Tarawood Messi, Meadowbranch Josh, Saunders Mach 3 and Stoneriggs Mystery in close attendance.

In the Strata Florida Final, Elysium Thunder made the most of his one draw to lead pillar to post and provide an excellent winner for the small stable of Richard and Sarah Allen and a home bred to boot just hanging on from Meadowbranch Milli and Kikass Katie.

Diolch yn fawr iawn.

The Racing Horse would like to thank all the sponsors and stewards for their generosity and support in putting on this splendid festival. Our special thanks to Huw Evans (Chairman), David J Edwards (Vice Chairman) and Gareth Evans (Secretary) for their invite. Clearly they are a key component to the success of harness racing in Ceredigion. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Apologies

The Racing Horse would like to apologise if it in any way inferred that compared to other places there is less integrity testing in Ireland and could be one of the reasons why Irish horse numbers are down at the Tregaron Festival. We offer a retraction and our intention is to follow up this topic with a more measured view. Special thanks to Alan Wallace, Mark Flanagan and Jim McInally for their time and information on this topic.

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