RACE REPORT – Youngsfield Cross Country by Mark Baldwin

Race Report – The Youngsfield Cross Country Handicap; 14.30 Saturday, 17 June 2023.

Going: Heavy

Distance: 6 km run over a 2 km circuit

Runners: Too many

This meeting took place in cool, windy conditions after several days of heavy rains, making the going very heavy with large sheets of water covering many parts of the course. The 14.30 race featured a mix of ages from young, unshod colts to 60-somethings just hoping to make the distance through to a smattering of 70+ year-old stud-rejects in search of greener pastures.

When the tape went up, a frantic melée erupted, with the fleetest of foot shooting ahead in a spate of spray, leaving the older runners in their literal wake, one of whom instantly threw a shoe. Among the first of these, in the colours of the FHAC stable, was Frisky Frieslich (evens), a perennial odds-on favourite always happy to make the early running. He was (eventually) followed by stablemates Man O’ Watermeyer (5-1), Bénade à Trois (11-5) and Smithy (70-1), with Baldwin’s Buns (a rank, truly rank, outsider) appropriately bringing up the rear. Also running in FHAC silks was Uh-Oh Dianne (70-1), a confused filly who champed at the bit throughout.

As the 2 km course unfolded it became clear that some late alterations had had to be made due to the weather, resulting in an endless series of switchbacks demarcated with streamers of tape which flapped wildly in the wind, causing some unblinkered runners to shy sideways dangerously across the track at times. An unforeseen hazard was formed by a maze of old tyres – jetsam, presumably, from a passing truck – forming some hairpin turns over a glutinous surface of sludge and super-saturated grass. This, along with the conditions underfoot and a triple jump of sodden hay bales, slowed the field considerably, resulting in the slowest finishing times in recent years.

An early tendency among the better shod runners to tap dance from tussock to tussock in an effort to keep their shoes dry soon gave way to a resigned plunging from sucking mud to churning mire; nary a one finished with fetlocks unstained. The runners became strung out as the laps unfurled, with the younger bloods lapping many of the old-timers, themselves scattered over several furlongs like so many damp and erratic tumbleweeds. Ultimately, the race concluded in a hurry and a predictable flurry of slurry.

Provisional FHAC Race Results:

1. Frisky Frieslich by a length from

2. Bénade à Trois

3. Man O’ Watermeyer

4. Baldwin’s Buns

5. Uh-Oh Dianne

6. Smithy

Bookie’s Top Tip For The Next Outing: when the going is this heavy, bring several litres of water and a bucket to clean mud from shoes and stockings after the race. Flippers would be handy too.