RACING at the all weather track near Ammanford on Saturday was centred around the prestigious STAGBI future brood mares’ race which is sponsored by the British Standard bred breed society to promote british bred race mares which, will go on after their retirement from the track, to become the brood mares of the future. All the races were straight races with some very fast times posted in all divisions.

The afternoon began with two Novice races with Kentucky Roam (Perks Presteigne) driven as usual by Mark Evans, repeating her last week’s win again coming home in front of Ayr Fella (Lloyd Painscastle) and Talavary Zara (Jones Evenjobb). In the second race it was Meadowland Olympic (Jones, Llanllwni) driven by trainer Debbie Hitchcock who ran a cracking race to beat Beg for Mercy (Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn) with Turn the Paige (Miles, Merthyr) in third.

In the first Grade B race Second Affair (Thomas, Rhymney) with Mark Evans at the controls ran a superb race in a scintillating time to win from Cool Ice (Gething, Ewyas Harold) while Makemeamillionayr (Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey) ran on well to be third. Lakeview Meg (Atherton-Rees, Narberth) and driven by trainer Mathew Tromans ran resolutely in the second Grade B winning from Tillies Larg (Evans, Brecon) with Rhyds Backchat (Elder, Blaencelyn) in third.

On top Mcardle (Meredith, Treharris) driven by trainer Debbie Hitchcock, won his first race under Wales & Border rules in the first Grade A race closely followed by the Langford family horse Camden Callen while Woodstone Jingo (Meaney & Harris, Merthyr) was third. Rhyds Design (Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey) shot to the front in the second Grade A with Louisa Barton at the controls and he held on despite the efforts of Habberley Playboy (Gittins & Johns, Shrewsbury) who was second and Chinatown Kolt (Jones, Llanllwni) in third.

In the Nursery race Oakwood Rocket (Layton Brecon) took off as his name implied and ran his best race to date, but the experienced Danny’s Gift (Perks, Presteigne) with driver Oliver Jones gradually hauled him in to cross the line just in front while the fast finishing Hyar Friction (Thomas, Tregroes) was third.

Owner Dave Sargent from Newbridge is a traffic light entrepreneur and he watched enthralled as trainer Stephen Lloyd turned on the green light with his horse Bets All Off to lead throughout and claim his first win in the Baby Novices, coming home in front of the well fancied Dernol Yankee (Wozencraft, Llangurig) with the homebred Hyar Truly (Thomas, Tregroes) in third. In the second Baby Novice Greenhill Gus (Thomas, Rhymney) ran spectacularly for Mark Evans to claim an emphatic victory, with Luminite (Atherton-Rees, Narberth) in second while Hilltop Recon (Lloyd, New Radnor) picked up third.

In the Dash Stephen Lloyd partnered his brother Robin Lloyd’s Ayr Fella to bring victory to the Painscastle pony in front of Makemeamillionayr (Weigel, Llanddewi Velfrey) while Meadowland Olympic (Jones, Llanllwni) ran well in third. Stephen, one of the lesser known drivers enjoyed a good day with two wins, and a second, from only three drives.

In the STAGBI future brood mares’ race six exceptionally talented horses lined up with Cool Ice setting the pace, but it was Mark Evans driving Second Affair (Thomas, Rhymney) who turned on the turbo up the back straight to claim victory from Zestthewayilikeit (Jones, Evenjobb) while the genuine Cool Ice (Gething, Ewyas Harold) had to settle for third. This gave Mark Evans four wins on the day. This also proved to be the fastest time of the day and with her two wins Second Affair now joins the elite group of Grade A horses.

The final race of the day was a Free For All in which the ever popular Lakeside Pan made his move at the end of the back straight and running up the outside just claimed victory for the enthusiastic Elder family from New Quay driven as always by son Wayne, in second the long time leader Ontop Mcardle (Meredith, Treharris) while Woodstone Jingo (Meaney & Harris, Merthyr) was only inches behind in third.

So after a day of hot racing to match the weather, the horses have a week off with the next fixture the much anticipated Ludlow meeting, on a new track, on Saturday, July 14 starting at 1.30pm.

Novice – race 1. 1 Kentucky Roam (Mark Evans) O&T Perks, Presteigne 2 Ayr Fella 3 Talavary Zara Time: 2:10.8. Novice – race 2. 1 Meadowland Olympic (Debbie Hitchcock) owned Jones, Llanllwni trained Hitchcock Haverfordwest 2 Beg for Mercy 3 Turn the Paige Time: 2:07.6.

Grade B – race 1. 1 Second Affair (Mark Evans) O&T Thomas Rhymney 2 Cool Ice 3 Makemeamillionayr Time: 2:01.4. Grade B – race 2. 1 Lakeview Meg (Mathew Tromans) owned Atherton-Rees, Narberth train ed Tromans, Newcastle Emlyn 2 Tillies Larg 3 Rhyds Backchat Time: 2:07.4. Grade A – race 1. 1 Ontop Mcardle (Debbie Hitchcock) owned Meredith Treharris trained Hitchcock Haverfordwest 2 Camden Callen 3 Woodstone Jingo Time: 2:05.8

Grade A – race 2. 1 Rhyds Design (Louisa Barton) O&T Weigel Llanddewi Velfrey 2 Habberley Playboy 3 Chinatown Kolt Time: 2:04.7

Nursery. 1 Dannys Gift (Oliver Jones) O&T Perks, Presteigne 2 Oakwood Rocket 3 Hyar Friction Time: 2:19.9

Baby Novice – race 1. 1 Bets All Off (Stephen Lloyd) owned Sargeant, Newbridge trained Lloyd, Painscastle 2 Dernol Yankee 3 Hyar Truly Time: 2:05.4. Baby Novice – race 2. 1 Greenhill Gus (Mark Evans) O&T Thomas Rhymney 2 Luminite 3 Hilltop Recon Time: 2:03.2

Dash. 1 Ayr Fella (Stephen Lloyd) O&T R Lloyd Painscastle 2 Makemeamillionayr 3 Meadowland Olympic Time: 1:31.6.

STAGBI Mares. 1 Second Affair (Mark Evans) O&T Thomas Rhymney 2 Zestthewayilikeit 3 Cool Ice Time: 2:01.1

Free For All. 1 Lakeside Pan (Wayne Elder) owned Elder New Quay trained Elder Blaencelyn 2 Ontop Mcardle 3 Woodstone Jingo Time: 2:02.4