Kington and Vale of Arrow races have been running for decades and have enjoyed several different venues over the years, this year for the first time, the races were held on Broadheath Common near Presteigne.

The first race of the afternoon was the Novice race with the back marker Beg For Mercy driven this week by her young owner Ellie Tromans from Newcastle Emlyn. Up the back straight they swept passed the opposition to record a comprehensive win promoting the mare into open racing. In second place was the fast finishing Luminite (Collingwood, Huntington) with Lanehouse Girl (Lewis, Llanbister) in third.

The Grade B produced a thrilling race with most of the competitors in with a chance on the final corner, but the local Kentucky Roam driven by Oliver OJ Jones for the Perks family of Presteigne came out of the pack to seal victory ahead of Alibis Dream (Lloyd, Gladestry) while Whiskyandwater (Morgan, Knighton) was third.

In the Grade A, last week’s victor Lakeside Pan owned by John Elder from New Quay and trained by the Bevan family from Llanddewi, was steered to victory by Mathew Tromans. They went to the front early in the race and dictated proceedings from then on so securing another victory for this illustrious horse,. In second was Happy Hands with owner Bill Hughes from Cwmbach in the seat and close behind was George Gentle and David Duggan from Howey.

The Baby Novice was divided into two races and in the first Fold Allstar owned and trained by Lorna Perks from Evenjobb claimed his first win driven as usual by Oliver OJ Jones giving OJ his second win of the afternoon. In second was back marker Victoria Penlan (Thomas, Bridgend) while GG Rogue (Lloyd, Painscastle) was third.

In the second race the sometimes erratic Immortal Storm owned and trained by Roy Harris from Merthyr, driven by Andrew Hardwick this week showed he has plenty of speed, winning from Blackfield Okydoki (Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey) who claimed another second place while first time out this season Highbrooks Forgery belonging to new owners the Chetter family from Walsall was third.

After the interval the Nursery races provided an introduction to young horses to the sport or young drivers to gain experience. Despite there being no betting it is still competitive with Dernol Ebony driven by his owner Richard Staples from Merthyr running a good race to claim first while George Gentle and Martha Duggan was second and Blackberry (Williams, Llanafon) on her first run of the season was third. In the second Nursery young driver Ceri Bevan from Llanddewi secured a win with her sister’s Easy Company from last week’s winner Ellavalad (Hughes, Cwmbach) while Carrie on Fred (Middleton, Llandrindod) was third.

The next race was the dash where Beg For Mercy was driven by trainer Mathew Tromans from Newcastle Emlyn while daughter Ellie watched from the sidelines, and the mare came home triumphant securing her second win of the day ahead of Alibis Dream (Lloyd, Kington) with Olympics (Mills, Llanddewi) in third.

The last race of the afternoon was the consolation where Zulu Warrior made up for disappointment in her Baby Novice race, and took up the running early on to secure victory, giving Mathew Tromans his third win of the day, Halfpenny (Lloyd, New Radnor) was second while Dernol Yankee (Wozencraft, Llangurig) was third.

So after an entertaining day of racing, next week there is a break with no meeting. However a week later, on Saturday 18 June at 1.30pm racing is at a new venue when Llangunllo will play hosts to the races, which should be another interesting afternoon of racing.