The South Notts completed the Midlands Area Easter festivities by hosting their meeting on Easter Monday at Thorpe Lodge, Newark, in front of a very large crowd.
The six-race card produced a treble, not only for trainer Kelly Morgan but also for her owner John Chatfeild-Roberts. The first of these was in the very first race, the Ladies Conditions, where Meisha Micklewright piloted the nine-year-old Dream Conti to a confident 28-length victory over Corgyhill and Bella Higham. “Dream Conti is a big favourite here on the yard,” Kelly said, “we will hope to run him again in the area this season”
Next up was the Intermediate race which saw Teescomponents Boy, ridden by James Turner, trained by Fiona Needham and owned by the Father and Daughter Partnership, triumph over Champion Chase (Luke Scott) from the Station Yard team.
Jockey Luke Scott had more success in the next race, as he steered the Stephen Wiles-trained Badbad Leroy Brown to victory in the the Mixed Open, beating Tom Chatfeild-Roberts on board Early Retirement for trainer Gerald Bailey. Archie Wright was riding the favourite, Desire de Joie, which finished third.
Meisha Micklewright was riding again for the Chatfeild-Roberts/Morgan team when Santon triumphed in the Restricted race, holding off a spirited finish from Design Plan (Hannah Darpoe) in the run-in, while Moonlight Escapade was third for Max Chenery.
Sadly there was only one runner at Thorpe Lodge for the maiden race for four and five year olds, and they understandably did not want to move up to Restricted without a competitive result, so they opted to save the horse for another day, resulting in a void race.
The maiden for horses of six-years-old and older, by contrast, had six runners and four finishers. John Chatfield-Roberts and Kelly Morgan completed their trebles on the day in this one, as John’s son Tom rode the 2/1 favourite Beauvallon Bay to victory. The Kalanisi gelding seemed to come off the bridle a little mid-race but responded well to the jockey’s encouragement to draw clear of the challengers on the final circuit. The Whiskey Man, owned and ridden by Harry Arkwright, was second and Ontherunagain (Archie Wright) was third.
Commenting on her success, Kelly Morgan said, “we are thrilled to get to 18 winners this season like this. These horses will probably look to Garthorpe or Dingley for their next runs.”
Garthorpe is the venue for the next Midlands Area meeting in a fortnight’s time where the Quorn are our hosts and all entry is being taken on the gate: £15 for adults, under-16s free.