Wales & Borders Harness Racing

After the heat of the previous week, racing at the splendid Ivington track near Leominster was very enjoyable, the cooler conditions perfect for a Saturday afternoon of sport.

The Grade B heats started the day with the in-form Huntington stable of Liz Collingwood again dominant. Their little mare Llwyns Mercy this week driven by returnee driver Lee Price swept through the field with a lap to go, and led comfortably over the line while it was close between Beg For Mercy (Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn) who was second and Lakeview Meg (Lewis, Llanbister) in third.

In the second heat stablemate Luminite (Collingwood, Huntington) driven by Lee Price moved into overdrive on the back straight and won convincingly from Blythview JJ (Pike, Merthyr) with stylish Kentucky Roam (Perks, Presteigne) in third.

In the Grade A George Gentle (Duggan, Howey) driven by Shane Eggerton led from the gate. On the final straight the others were all closing, and it was Second Affair driven by Oliver (OJ) Jones for the Perks family from Presteigne that claimed a narrow victory, George Gentle holding on for second while Dernol Yankee (Wozencraft, Llangurig) slipped through into third.

The Novice race was the next on the card where Lanehouse Girl driven by her owner Steve Lewis from Llanbister set the pace and dominated proceedings, to win comfortably from Victoria Penlan (Thomas, Bridgend) while Bethany (Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey) secured a close third.

The two Baby Novice races followed, where Mathew Tromans from Newcastle Emlyn was in scintillating form, in the first with his partner Blackfield Okydoki (Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey), they had a very poor start and gave themselves a hard task, but they were first over the line by a very small margin, with the long time leader Carrie on Fred (Middleton, Llandrindod) in second while Easy Connection (Chettwr, Cannock) was third.

In the second Baby Novice Mathew partnered his own Zulu Warrior (Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn) again they were off the back but this impressive horse soon made her way to the front and claimed an easy victory from Ithon Prince (Duggan, Howey) with Ellavalad (Hughes, Cwmbach) in third.

Both Blackfield Okydoki and Zulu Warrior will progress into the Novices for next week at Penybont.

In the nursery race the improving Ithon Papa belonging to new owner Carolyn Rowlands from Rhayader and trained and driven by Steve Lewis from Llanbister ran an impeccable race so qualifying him to progress into the Baby Novice class, while Woodstone Miranda (Hughes, New Radnor) also ran well in second with the impressive two year old Red Cash (Sargeant, Newbridge) in third.

The consolation is a popular second chance for horses and last week’s winner Howdya Likemenow (Havard, Dinmore) swept to the front, but was just caught by the fast finishing and appropriately named, No Stoppin owned by long time supporters the Greenway family from Michaelchurch Eskley and driven by Steve Lloyd in third was K & M Redpandana (Arrowsmith, Bronllys).

The Grade B Final was a thrilling race, as all the runners tried to make a run, but it was the fast finishing Lakeview Meg with owner Steve Lewis from Llanbister on board who just went over the line in front of the long time leader Beg For Mercy (Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn) while Luminite (Collingwood, Huntington) ran on well to be third.

The Free For All was the final race of the day, with all the horses off the gate. It is a good spectacle for the premier competitors, the outstanding Ontop Shouda Cuda owned and trained by Jane Bevan from Llanddewi with his usual pilot Lynne Boxhall on board swept to victory in front of the evergreen veteran Lakeside Pan (Elder, New Quay) while the earlier Grade A winner Second Affair (Perks, Presteigne) was third.

Next week racing returns to its natural home of Penybont, now in its second century but only its second Saturday race meeting as the renowned ‘Wembley of Wales’ takes place on Saturday, 30 July starting at 1.30pm.

Grade B heat 1

1 Llwyns Mercy (Lee Price) owned & trained Collingwood, Huntington 2 Beg For Mercy 3 Lakeview Meg Time: 2:07.69

Grade B – heat 2

1 Luminite (Lee Price) owned & trained Collingwood, Huntington 2 Blythview JJ 3 Kentucky Roam Time: 2:07.66

Grade A

1 Second Affair (Oliver OJ Jones) owned & trained Perks, Presteigne 2 George Gentle 3 Dernol Yankee Time: 2:09.53

Novice

1 Lanehouse Girl (Steve Lewis) owned & trained Lewis, Llanbister 2 Victoria Penlan 3 Bethany Time: 2:10.37

Baby Novice – race 1

1 Blackfield Okydoki (Mathew Tromans) owned & trained Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey 2 Carrie on Fred 3 Easy Connection Time: 2:12.69

Baby Novice – race 2

Zulu Warrior (Mathew Tromans) owned & trained Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn 2 Ithon Prince 3 Ellavalad Time: 2:15.16

Nursery

1 Ithon Papa (Steve Lewis) owned Rowlands, Rhayader trained Lewis Llanbister 2 Woodstone Miranda 3 Red Cash Time: 2:16.31

Consolation

1 No Stoppin (Stephen Lloyd) owned & trained Greenway, Michaelchurch Eskley 2 Howdya Likemenow 3 K & M Pandana Time: 2:12.09

Grade B Final

1 Lakeview Meg (Steve Lewis) owned & trained Lewis, Llanbister 2 Luminite 3 Beg For Mercy Time: 2:10.53

Free For All

1 Ontop Shouda Cuda (Lynne Boxhall) owned & trained Bevan Llanddewi 2 Lakeside Pan 3 Second Affair Time: 2:05.78