The sun shines on Carlisle as Ben Curtis stars

It proved a memorable occasion too for jockey Ben Curtis who rode the winners of the opening two races, completed his treble on the Irish raider Lucent Dream in the 9f handicap and narrowly missed his four-timer when Cuntentment, the warm favourite for the £10,000 feature event, just failed to overhaul Miss Sheridan close home.

Curtis may not be the most fashionable of leading flat race riders but he is admirably effective. He originally arrived from Ireland with a glowing reputation and has an eye-catching strike rate at Carlisle.

Before notching his three-timer on Monday, Ben had ridden 21 winners from a total just in excess of 80 mounts over the past five years.

And those of you with sound memories will recall him recording a similar rewarding afternoon round Carlisle while he was acting as first jockey to the late Alan Swinbank.

Ben’s first Monday winner came on the short-priced Ghost Surge in the opening novices stakes. This attractive colt by Zebedee was following up his impressive debut at Lingfield where he had routed his rivals by a wide margin.

The grey carries the colours of the race sponsors, the Champagne Charlies Club, whose members include the Rugby League stars Luke Gale, Danny Maguire and Jamie Peacock.

Ghost Surge was a rare Carlisle raider from the Lambourn stable of Archie Watson. And it is yet another feather in the Cumbrian course’s cap that the upwardly mobile Watson had sent his promising juvenile on the long journey north.

Ghost Surge is himself a colt who should go into local racegoers’ “trackers” as he is clearly highly-regarded and is either heading for the listed Pat Eddery Stakes on King George Day at Ascot or the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.

The day’s second success for Ben Curtis arrived on the David Barron-trained Cloncoulis in the Fillies Maiden. But not before there was a jarring reminder of last year’s dramatic accident which saw Sammy-Jo Bell unseated leaving the paddock.

This time round, the drama was played out in the paddock itself.

As Connor Beasley was about to get the leg up on the newcomer Butterworth Brow, he was kicked full on in the chest and the runners were taken out of the ring as the prostrate jockey was treated by the racecourse doctors.

It looked nasty. But, after a couple of painful minutes, the tough-as-teak Beasley got to his feet and remounted.

He actually completed the race in fourth place and said later: “She got me double barrels full in the chest. But you have to get on with it and I was due to be riding at Ascot on Tuesday!”

Most popular winner at Carlisle was arguably the 11/4 chance Hee Haw in the competitive 6f handicap. Paul Mulrennan rode a confident race on the lightly raced three-year-old who had advertised his claims with a close second at Hamilton the previous week.

Hee Haw travelled well throughout and, once Mulrennan asked him to quicken, the race was over in a matter of strides.

Hee Haw is trained by Keith Dalgleish, the Carluke based trainer who saddled the winners of both last season’s Carlisle Bell and Cumberland Plate.

The two major contests of Carlisle’s big summer meeting together with the £40,000 Eternal Stakes are the twin highlights of next Wednesday’s exciting fixture.

The five-day entries have still to be published but should Dalgleish pencil in the name of Euro Nightmare for the Cumberland Plate, I shall not be looking elsewhere.

The curtain falls on Royal Ascot tomorrow with the Hardwicke Stakes the climax to a thrilling week, in which, the horses carrying the royal blue of Godolphin have been consistently seen to advantage.

An exception was the result of Wednesday’s Prince Of Wales Stakes won in brilliant style by Highland Reel. Even here, though, there was a silver lining to the cloud as Godolphin’s leading contender in the Hardwicke is the Charlie Appleby-trained Frontiersman.

This is the progressive horse who finished such a creditable second to Highlanbd Reel in the Investec Coronation Cup at the Epsom Derby Meeting. A reproduction of that running would make Frontiersman a sound wager at Ascot.

Nearer to home, Ayr are staging a lucrative meeting with the £30,000 Scottish Sun Handicap the most interesting race on the card.

Jim Goldie is facing a stern fight to maintain his role as Scotland’s top flat race trainer with both Dalgleish and Iain Jardine currently holding prior claims to that title.

Goldie’s horses are however back in winning form, particularly at Ayr and his course winner Nicholas T will make a bold effort to land tomorrow’s valuable prize. He loves the course and remains on a fair mark.

Sunday sees jumps action back at Hexham where, at the five-day stage, there was an intriguing entry in the novices chase in the shape of Peace And Co. Nicky Henderson will have to open his road atlas if he decides to run this former top juvenile hurdler at the Yarridge Heights as the champion trainer is a very rare if ever a visitor.

Peace And Co is owned by Simon Munir and Daryll Jacob, his retained jockey is alongside his name in the entries. Peace And Co is also pencilled in at Worcester and perhaps Nicky Henderson will take up that option. We will wait and see.

Hexham specialist Heart O’Annandale can return to winning form in the two and a half mile handicap chase.

The Iain Jardine-trained gelding was a shade too keen in the amateur riders event at the track last time out but had come late to score at Kelso before that and reunited with the talented Ross Chapman can repeat that win.

Nicky Richards and Lisa Harrison both have entries in the 3m chase.

Lisa’s Johnny Go has the best recent form having figured prominently at Perth until being outpaced from the second last.

Scarlet Fire, the mount of Ryan Day, represents Greystoke. He has been very lightly raced over the past year but has always thrived in the summer. He will be a fresh horse and is just preferred.

Maurice Barnes is likely to saddle Desert Island Susk in the two and a half mile handicap hurdle. This solid performer has a fine record at Hexham, though his best distance is arguably the minimum trip of two miles.

Such is the form of the Barnes team, however, the extra half mile may not find him out.

Finally, look out for Henpecked in the final hurdle. The mare was taken out on the flat at Carlisle and showed promise over hurdles at Perth last time.