West Mercian Races report by Andrew King

Mixing motherhood with training obviously works for Bridget Skelton (formerly Andrews) as the former top lady rider saddled her first winner after Midnight River landed the Conditions (Level 3) contest at Chaddesley Corbett.

Partnered by Heidi Palin, the well backed 11-8 favourite stayed on in determined fashion to fend off the persistent attentions of Skandiburg from the penultimate fence to score by a length-and-a-half.

Skelton was accompanied by her husband Harry and their two young children – Rory and Anna – and said:” A lot of the credit for this success has to go to Ellie Harrison as she does a lot of the work with the horse at home as well as being my nanny

“It’s been quite a journey with him as he has had quite a few issues in the past, but judging by that display, hopefully all those things are behind him. He maybe 10 years-old coming up 11 but he still knows how to win.”

In her riding days, Skelton clocked up over 200 winners under Rules including a couple of Cheltenham Festival victories and 57 in point to points and admitted: “I would not have had the career I had in the saddle if I had not started off pointing all those years ago

“I’m a one horse trainer at the moment but I’m not going to rule out having a couple more in the future. We will have to wait and see if that happens – maybe it will and maybe it won’t.”

However, one thing she did put a line through was any talk of a comeback in the saddle saying:” My priorities are a lot different now with a family so there is definitely no chance of that.

“It would be pretty damn silly, in any case, for both myself and Harry to be riding anyway with an ambulance following us around racecourses – it’s asking for trouble.

“Remember I broke my neck over three years ago in a fall so I know all about the risks – the main thing now is the family and they will always come first.”

Just for good measure, Skelton’s sister and lady’s champion Gina Andrews also found herself standing in the winner’s circle after Entity Of Substanz made all the running to collect the concluding Maiden at the expense of Seek Him There.

The Mixed Open went the way of the Tom Britten-trained Ocean Drifter as he made every yard of the running to thwart the rallying Shanagh Bob much to the delight of regular pilot Clara Brewitt.

She said: “I have now ridden him in five outings and he has won four of them – it’s no surprise he is my obvious favourite. He will be sticking to pointing and hopefully there is more days like this to come.”

Four horses landed upsides one at the final fence in the 4-y-o Maiden but it was the Bradley Gibbs-ridden and trained Briskalo who emerged the winner by a head from Hoo’s The Jet with Lhybris Is Born and Barito dead-heating for the bronze in third.

Gibbs, who is likely to switch to training under Rules shortly, said: “He had a couple of runs in Ireland before joining our team and we have liked him all along. He got to the front at the back of two out but idled before picking up again on the run to the line.

Of his intention to change codes, he added: “Hopefully it’s going to happen in the near future as we are nearly there. It’s just a question of dotting a few i’s and crossing some t’s.”

Eagle-eyed punters who noticed that Chris Barber sent just the one runner to the course from his Herefordshire base were rewarded with a 9/4 winner when Coeur D’Alene outpointed Dom Rodrigo for the Restricted under James King.

Barber said: “He has grown up and filled out a lot over for a summer’s break and is the type we will keep running in points and see where we are in the Spring with him and make a little plan from there.”

It proved a red letter afternoon for novice rider Cerys Sheehy as she partnered her first ever winner after Hubrisko took the Conditions (Level 3) race in style over Dragon Rock.

Trainer Francesca Poste’s husband Charlie said: “Cerys works in the yard back at home and rides very well. She followed her instructions perfectly and gave the horse a peach out in front.”