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Thursday, November 18, 2021

Newbury Weekly News

SPORT

Bucklebury show fight in two games BUCKLEBURY B kept them- selves busy with two matches in the Mixed Division 1 of the Newbury Badminton League. The first, a rearranged in- tra-club affair against their A team that was played on club night, had the expected outcome, but things were actually very closely matched between the top two pairs in each team with all games reaching the mid-to-high teens for the losing side. The A side’s third pair of Alan Arnold and Elizabeth Craig wer- en’t troubled at all – winning their three rubbers with only one of the six games reaching the teens – and were the top pair on paper. A final score of 8-1 to the A team wasn’t unexpected, but the B team’s second pairing of John Gotelee and Margaret Neville took a well-deserved and hard-fought consolation rubber against the A’s second pair of Matt Lorrimore and Olivia May by 19-21 and 18-21. Bucklebury B then took on St Mary’s B the following day and the fatigue had clearly set in. The best rubber of the night for the Bucks came from Neville and David Haines, who gave the St Mary’s third pair of Suzanne Al- len and Pete Braithewaite a bit of a scare, but the Saints still recorded a commanding 9-0 win. In Open Division 1, St Mary’s A hosted Shaw A in a thrilling encounter which went down to a last-rubber decider. Ross Parsons and Matt Benians had a relatively easy time for St Mary’s, but were troubled by Da- vid Truby and Mike Pembroke in a 26-24 setter that could have eas- ily taken the rubber to three ends and perhaps changed the outcome of the match. In the end, it came down to the final rubber where the St Mary’s second pair of Gareth Jones and Alex Woods – having narrowly lost both of their previous rubbers – needed to bring home the win against the Shaw pairing of Pete Schofield and Richard Elwell. Winning the rubber by a close margin (21-17, 21-15), St Mary’s scraped through to take the match. B adminton Emma does it once more for West Berks WEST Berkshire Roller Skat- ing Club’s Emma Smith starred at the recent GB Skate Artis- tic National Championships in Brentwood. Smith skated in the Classic Solo Intermediate event – skating the Werner Tango, Keats Foxtrot and Tudor Waltz dances. As a result, she was handed first place by all three judges. Smith has now retained her championship title, something that she has held for the last three competitive seasons. Donna Anderson, Sarah Driver, Sophie Dulieu and Michelle Stone made up the other places in the top five. R olleR S kating

AP Mcoy (left) on Kapcorse

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The Paul Nicholls team at Newbury

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Enrilo can give Nicholls joy Seven-year-old is favourite for the big race

PAUL Nicholls believes Enrilo is ready to have a crack at the Lad- brokes Trophy during the Winter Carnival at Newbury next week. The seven-year-old was one of five horses to make the trip from Ditcheat in Somerset to participate in the Gallops morning earlier this week, with Kapcorse, Monmiral, Clan Des Obeaux and Flash Collonges also on show. Enrilo is expected to be Nicholls’ sole entry for the £250,000 race on No- vember 27 and the trainer is thrilled with preparations. He said: “I am pleased with Enrilo. I spoke to Harry and he was thrilled with the way he went and he trav- elled nicely. “He will be spot on for next week- end because he is fit and well. “ Monmiral was a bit sharper and he could have kicked on, while Clan just needed it a fraction because he is a little way off from being fully pre- pared and he will have another day out. “The two chasers behind, Kapcorse and Flash Collonges , went nicely and they’re both intending to come for the Ladbrokes meeting, but I am es- pecially thrilled for Enrilo because he is absolutely bang on.” Enrilo will make his seasonal de- but at Newbury in the Ladbrokes Trophy and is currently favourite to land the top prize. Nicholls said: “If we had run him in something like the Badger Beer Handicap Chase and he won, then we would get seven or eight pounds more and it’s handy that we haven’t got a penalty, so it’ll make the task a little

bit easier. “You don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot by getting a penalty, so we thought we would come here fresh. “He is one of those horses who needs a bit of time and when he’s fresh he is very good. “Last year, he had a fractured tooth and it kept him out for a while. “He isn’t a horse that needed too much racing last year – he is proba- bly beginning to be the finished arti- cle and what I like about him is that he stays and it’s what you need.” Ireland’s champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins will saddle three run- ners in the Ladbrokes Trophy, led by Ontheropes , the horse taking the To- tal Recall route to Newbury’s historic chase. Mullins recorded his only Lad- brokes Trophy win with Total Recall in 2017, who preceded that victory by landing the JT McNamara Lad- brokes Munster National, the same race Ontheropes won last time out. He also has Brahma Bull and An- namix in the field. “The plan is for all three to come over,” said Mullins. “They have all had good preparations. “I have two horses coming off sum- mer preps and Ontheropes won the Munster National and I don’t really want testing ground for any of them. “We were disappointed we couldn’t get Ontheropes to win, but then he broke his maiden in the Munster Na- tional, which was good. “He has matured a lot this year and has a real good profile, like Total Recall. He has a nice weight with 11st 2lb as well.”

Paisley Park (left) will be in the Long Distance Hurdle Ref: 46-1821V Paisley returns to Newbury

FORMER champion staying hur- dler Paisley Park is on course to make his third appearance in the Ladbrokes Long Distance Hurdle after working over the course during the Ladbrokes Winter Car- nival Gallops Morning. The winner of the Stayers’ Hur- dle in 2019 exercised under trainer Emma Lavelle’s husband Barry Fen- ton ahead of another tilt at the race in which he finished second last year to Thyme Hill . He finished third on his seasonal debut at Wetherby last month. Emma Lavelle said: “He does as much as he needs to do so that was perfect, a really nice exercise for him. “He shows all the signs at home that he is no different to how he’s ever been and I think it probably didn’t help that at Wetherby they didn’t go much of a gallop so under those cir- cumstances if we got to live that race again we would probably have been a little bit handier to compensate.” Paisley Park idles in his races so Lavelle is planning to run him in cheek pieces on Friday week, where a good run will delay any thoughts of switching to a novice chase cam- paign. She added, “I’d like to stay over hurdles if we can and if he runs well next time that will probably be the route. “I hope cheek pieces will make a lit- tle bit of a difference. It will just help

him travel for that little bit longer. “I do want to make sure he schools well in them first and that he doesn’t sit behind them. It’s tiring for us to watch himwhen he runs like that, as much as it is for him. “He clearly still wants to do it, oth- erwise he wouldn’t be finishing out his races the way he does. I think he is just a little bit wiser.” Nicky Henderson will give the exciting Jonbon his first start over hurdles on the Friday of the Lad- brokes Winter Carnival. The JPMcManus-owned five-year- old, the brother of top class Douvan , cost his owner £570,000 when going through the sales ring in 2020. He was the comfortable winner of a bumper race at Newbury in March and the former point-to-point win- ner will tackle jumps in Britain for the first time in the 2m maiden hur- dle won previously by Buveur D’Air . “He just wants to get on with it,” said Henderson. “He’s a natural fidget and was on his toes. “It was just a matter of how he was going to get on on his own. “He is a beautiful horse – looks aren’t everything but it helps. “This will have done him the world of good, but I don’t know if it will have calmed him down or revved him up. “Whichever way it will have done its job and he will make his debut in the two-mile novice hurdle.”

Mister Coffey during the Ladbrokes Gallops Morning

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