Bryan's smart move
Bryan Smart’s move to Hambleton, near Thirsk, from Lambourn in early November is really paying dividends.
And the trainer was delighted to get off the mark for 2003, when Friday’s Takings won the first division of the Littlewoods Bet Direct Handicap at Southwell, in what he considers a year which provides him with his biggest challenge.
“It was a big move to make and with 70 horses including 20 two-year-olds in the yard, the pressure is on big-time to make a go of it,” he said
“It is brilliant to get the first winner of the season out of the way, we had a winner a week during the eight weeks we were at Hambleton last year which I thought was great considering we have to get used to the different gallops and everything.”
Friday’s Takings stuck to his task well for apprentice Paul Scallan to hold off Pawn Of Life by one and a quarter lengths with Quiet Reading a length away in third.
Smart was impressed with Scallan’s riding and he went on: “I thought he rode the horse very well, he is strong in the saddle and the way he handled the horse shows he has got a racing brain.
“With a big team of horses we need someone to be with us regularly and at the moment we are putting out the feelers to see which apprentice will suit us best.”
“Reg (Bond, the stable’s principal patron) is looking forward to the season as much as we are and he will be over the moon that we have had a winner already.”
Smart and Scallan were on the mark again with Brandy Cove in the concluding Littlewoods Bet Direct Handicap to complete a near 46-1 double for the trainer-jockey team.
Millionaire lottery winner Phil Partridge did not quite hit the jackpot again but he enjoyed another memorable experience when Mabel Riley provided him with his first success as an owner and picked up the princely sum of £2,933 (€4,485) for winning the Bet Direct On Sky Text Page 371 Selling Stakes.
