As the flat season continues to wind down, Pontefract stage their penultimate meeting of the season on Monday 9th October. The 15th race meeting of the year at the West Yorkshire venue is bound to be well supported as trainers get one last run in to their charges before the National Hunt season takes over.
It’s a fascinating card with the feature being ‘The Leslie Burton Fisher Handicap’ over 1 mile. The £18,000 prize money is bound to attract some interesting types. The Godolphin team have won the last two runnings of this handicap and their 2016 winner, Blair House, was second in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot earlier in the season. It’s traditionally a good day for the Godolphin team who have registered 5 winners at this meeting over the last 3 years – it may be worth keeping an eye on their runners.
Whilst it is not one of the more valuable races on the card, The Bluff Cove Handicap will certainly be one of the most fiercely contested, as it makes up the penultimate leg of the Stayers Championship at the course in 2017. The ‘Championship’ looks like going to the wire with current leader and former winner, Tuscan Gold, still in front of recent course winner La Fritillaire. The James Given trained runner, however, took the ‘Bluff Cove’ in 2016 and a repeat victory this year could see her take the lead in the championship.
The DEM Window Solutions Nursery is historically a fiercely competitive. Last year, there were 12 winners of future races in behind the winner, High Acclaim. In 2015, the race winner, Kassia, was also subsequently successful in Listed company, and so it’s a good race to keep an eye on with future winners in mind.
The Racecourse welcomes Napoleons Casino Bradford for the first time as they sponsor the one mile handicap on the card. Mr Cool Cash won the event last year and was recently runner up at the course in September. The race is bound to attract a few Ponte regulars!
The Racecourse continues to run the Yorkshire Postcode Lottery. The scheme gives racegoers from Yorkshire the chance to come racing for free in the Grandstand & Paddock Enclosure. The last two meetings of the season are both part of the promotion, and punters with postcodes from Huddersfield and Bradford will be eligible for free entry at forthcoming meetings with Huddersfield postcodes the lucky ones on the 9th October. The action gets underway at 1.55pm with gates opening at midday.