Pontefract Racecourse

Racecourse number: 20

First visited: 1991

Number of visits: 7

The photograph above was taken at the pre parade ring at Pontefract in 2010. In shot are my two favourites seven year old girls from then. My daughter Rachel and my racehorse Smarties Party who was fancied for the upcoming two mile two furlong handicap.

Nineteen years earlier in July of 1991 I made my first trip to Pontefract races. Positioned right next to the M62 near Leeds it is a large square shaped flat racing track with a significant climb to the line over the final two furlongs. I have a memory of two horses from this day. After twenty one consecutive defeats Chaplins Club, a great servant to owner Peter Savill, was way off the betting radar but as an old favourite and winner of ten races was surely worth a small interest bet. Meanwhile, the previous season Timeless Times had set a record of sixteen wins in one season. I was thrilled to see this famous horse in the flesh and hopeful of a return to winning form. My two key resources for this blog are the Racing Post online database and the less well known my dads old diaries. Both are invaluable for this early period but what surprised me using the former was that the two horses above actually ran in the same race. My dads entry for this day began "We had a family day out at Pontefract races. Irene, Jason and I picked up Linda and Andrew (My sister's boyfriend at the time) from her flat and took them. We all backed one winner but showed a loss." Timeless Times disappointed carrying the burden of my wager whilst Chaplins Club flew home on the outside to spring a 33-1 surprise and provide me with that familiar racing sensation of if only, should have, could have, meant to but didn't!

My second trip to Pontefract in 1993 was with my later to be wife Claire who joined the Tomlinson family on a typical racing day out for the first time. Still keen to impress her at this stage I made a miserable effort in terms of my betting prowess on this day. Countless losing bets were followed by further betting misery when my banker of the day Lake Popoo, owned by Robert Sangster, was out battled and beaten a neck to deny me any strand of credibility. Even at this early stage Pontefract was destined to be a place of betting failure for me.

When Smarties Party ran in 2010 it would be the last time I would attend a race meeting as an owner with Chris Thornton as my trainer. Later that year he would retire following a fantastic training career which included horses like Shotgun, Path Of Peace and Flossy. Much was expected of Smarties this day which was reflected in the high number of syndicate members who turned up. I genuinely felt she would finish in the first three. She had come second on her previous two flat outings and hopes were high. One big obstacle to success was Sinbad The Sailor owned by Sir Alex Ferguson who would go off favourite. Shrewdly though, Sir Alex did not turn up to see his horse disappoint in fourth......... but he still beat us by two lengths. Patchy soft ground was touted as the excuse for a poor showing by Jockey P J MacDonald. My poor record at Pontefract continued nearly twenty years on. In truth though it was a great day out and we were well looked after by the Pontefract staff. It was a genuine thrill to be in the parade ring with my Dad, trainer Chris Thornton and other syndicate members on a fancied runner watched by my wife, my mum and my kids. Just a shame the hoped for visit to the winners enclosure was not to be.

This blog post is kindly sponsored by Guinness.