JAN CLARK

THREE RIVERS RIDE - SALISBURY RACECOURSE
6TH OCTOBER 2002

The kind Autumn weather continued and Salisbury Racecourse was bathed in sunshine for the Three Rivers Ride. As always this popular ride was full to capacity, although the entries in the 3 Endurance Rides had suffered slightly, with Red Dragon the weekend before and the Goodwood ride featuring the Inter Regional Team Challenge the week after.

Dainty Dancer and Pauline Higgs (winners of Smokey Challenge)
(Photo courtesy of Eric G Jones 01747 860625)

The first class away was the 100km Smokey Challenge and Pauline Higgs pure bred mare Dainty Dancer dominated right from the start. She led out of Vet gate 1 onto the second loop round Grovely Woods , and by the time they were through the second Vet Gate and onto the final loop that took them down to Martin and back over the Blandford Road back to the Racecourse had stretched her lead to 20 minutes. Pauline's winning margin was 30 minutes and she took she took the Smokey Challenge Trophy at 17.24 kph.

Sue Dando & Nebo, 2nd in the 100km Smokey Challenge
(Photo courtesy of Eric G Jones 01747 860625)

A racing finish for the next 2 places saw Sue Dando's Nebo edge ahead of Lesley Nott's Mithryl to take the blue rosette, and also collect the Best Condition trophy.

Lesley Nott on Mithryl crossing the finish line
3rd place in the Smokey Challenge
(Photo courtesy of Eric G Jones 01747 860625)

The 86 km Opal Dash was a much close competition with 3 horses taking the field along. Lesley Dunn and Chatanz, Jo Holman and The Silver Gambler and Junior Rider Alice Beet on Rosemary Attfield's Red Sunday stayed together throughout the ride and treated the waiting crowd to a most exciting galloping finish. Sadly with the more stringent heart rate parameters introduced this year - 56 bpm in 20 minutes for this distance - the hard working crews were unable to get the horses' heart rates down low enough and all three were eliminated on pulse. Unaware of this drama and some 10 minutes off the pace, the next 3 horses - all attempting their first race ride - came in at a slightly more sedate place.

Nicky Renny and Spanish Scensation -( winners of the 86 km Opal Dash)
This was especially nice for us as "Murphy" as he's called was bred by Cheryl and is still owned by her. She lent him to Nicky as he was just too big for us (16hh) and they have got on like a house on fire !!. He's half brother to Khairho as they are both by Cheryl's great old stallion Zourrak.
(Photo courtesy of Eric G Jones 01747 860625)

Nicky Renny riding Alem Hamza Endurance's Spanish Scensation was first across the line, followed by Jill Kent on her Crabbet gelding Bitterwell Spirit , then Sam Welch on Judy Phillip's Egyptian mare Nasawa. All three passed the final vetting and were delighted to find that they had been promoted to the top three places. There was double delight for Nasawa's connections when she was awarded the Best Condition Trophy.

Jill Kent and Bitterwell Spirit, 2nd in the 86km Opal Dash
(Photo courtesy of Eric G Jones 01747 860625)

The 65km Veteran's Challenge was eerily similar to the Opal Dash. Three horses were in contention all the way round, had a very exciting finish and all three were eliminated at the final vetting. Chris Wensley's TB My Sporting Lady got the better of the other two in the gallop up the race course but was found to be lame at the vetting. Mary Blackmore's pure bred mare Cadence and Diane Volpe's pure bred gelding Abu Haroun both failed on pulse. The next finisher Heather Rishman with her 22 yo Appaloosa Beaumont was astounded to find herself the winner of the class !

RESULTS

100 Km Smokey Challenge
1st Dainty Dancer Pure Bred mare Pauline Higgs 17.24kph
2nd Nebo Pure Bred gelding Sue Dando Best Condition
3rd Mithryl Pure Bred gelding Lesley Nott
4th Foxhills Mia Kara Grey Part bred gelding Sally Ross
5th Auburn Emblem Anglo gelding Gina Harris
6th Zany Meadows Part bred mare Tristan Bishop

86 Km Opal Dash
1st Spanish Scensation Anglo Gelding Nicky Renny 14.96
2nd Bitterwell Spirit Pure bred gelding Jill Kent
3rd Nasawa Pure bred mare Sam Welch Best Condition
4th Shirax Part bred gelding Pauline Morris
5th Lady Mary Part bred mare Belinda Stewart

65 km Veteran's Challenge
1st Beaumont Appaloosa Heather Rishman

Check back soon for more news.

'Endurance Jan'

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