REVIEW – PONTEFRACT RACECOURSE TUESDAY 8th APRIL 2025
THE 2025 SEASON GETS UNDERWAY AT PONTEFRACT
The 2025 racing season at Pontefract got underway on Tuesday 8th April under blue skies and resplendent sunshine, a stark contrast to the 2024 opener! The day began with a tribute to outgoing COO Richard Hammill, a wonderful servant to Pontefract Racecourse and the racing industry in his 24 years at the track. The Thank You Richard Hammill Novice Stakes was won in game fashion by the Richard Fahey trained Strong Warrior. An impressive winner at Ayr on his only run to date, he made all the running under Oisin Orr and gamely held off the late challenge of Veblen Good to maintain his 100% record. With further improvement likely, he certainly has the look of a sprinter to follow.
The feature race of the day, the £30,000 Every Race Live on Racing TV Handicap over the five-furlong trip went the way of Fahrenheit Seven and Connor Beasley. Mark Usher’s representative was held up in rear through the early part of the race but finished strongly to deny the front running Dream Composer.
The two mile and two-furlong stayers handicap remembered popular course stalwart, Jamaican Flight and produced the most impressive winner of the day in the shape of Diamand De Vindecy. Easing to the front in the home straight, he readily scooted clear of his rivals to win by almost ten-lengths under Jason Hart. His trainer Robert Bevis subsequently hinted that he would likely return to Pontefract for a crack at more stayers glory in the coming months.
Regular sponsors Napoleon’s Casino, Bradford are once again sponsoring a series of races during the season and the winner of the first of them was Dark Cloud Rising. Danny Tudhope had the David O’Meara-trained gelding in pole position from the outset and he was in full command in the closing stages.
Letmeseethecolts was a popular winner of The Tommy Hepple Memorial Handicap. Relishing every yard of the one mile four-furlong test, she stretched clear under Joanna Mason and it would be no surprise to see the Brian Ellison-trained filly in the winners’ enclosure again soon.
The penultimate race was the Celebrating the Life of Cheryl Hibbert Handicap which saw a thrilling head-to-head battle in the closing stages between Tofrida and One More Dream, the latter narrowly getting the better of the argument under a power-packed ride from Jason Hart. This was an eleventh career success for the six-year-old, trained by John and Sean Quinn.
Partisan Hero sent favourite backers home happy, following up his February Kempton success in the concluding Racing TV Sky Channel 424 Handicap for Richard Kingscote and David Loughnane.
The next meeting is on Monday 14th April and includes the Pontefract Marathon over 2m5f – making it the longest handicap race run on the flat in this country! It’s also OAP Free Day and over 60s can register for a free ticket via the website (pontefract-races.co.uk).
Contact: Jonathan Mullin (Chief Executive Officer) 01977 781307