UTTOXETER STAGES BRITAIN’S SUMMER JUMP RACING SHOWPIECE

UTTOXETER Racecourse hosts the most important National Hunt race of the summer on Sunday (29 JUNE) – the £60,000 Britannia Building Society English Summer National.

It’s the biggest family funday of the summer at the racecourse, with many entertainments for children in the centre of the racecourse.

Plenty of staff from the Britannia Building Society and their families also make the afternoon out a big annual event.

Since its inception, the English Summer National, a race over four miles, has become one of the most sought-after prizes for racehorse owners and trainers.

So much so that the man – Peter Bowen - who has trained the winners in two of the last four years has entered no fewer than FIVE horses for Sunday’s race.

They include the 2004 winner Take The Stand as well as Always Waining which is owned by Staffordshire businessman and racecourse supporter Peter Douglas and his wife.

The Welshman, who loves running his horses at Uttoxeter Racecourse, won’t have it all his own way though.  The Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls, bidding for his first victory in the race, has entered former Grand National competitor Royal Auclair.  An amateur rider who will be given a weight allowance of seven pounds has been booked to ride, so Britain’s leading trainer means business.

Among the 39 entries – of which a maximum of 16 horses will run – is last year’s winner Kock de La Vesvre and a former Midlands Grand National winner Philson Run.

Clerk of the Course Keith Ottesen assesses the going currently as “good to firm”, with the weather set fair for much of the week.

HISTORY OF THE BRITANNIA BUILDING SOCIETY ENGLISH SUMMER NATIONAL

The Britannia Building Society English Summer National at Uttoxeter Racecourse has become the showpiece steeplechase of the summer in Britain.

Sponsored from its inception during the first year of the new millennium by the Staffordshire-based building society, its reputation as a high-class race developed early.

The inaugural event was won by a local horse – Berlin Blue – owned by Uttoxeter businessman Peter Douglas.

The outbreak of foot and mouth disease closed Uttoxeter Racecourse during the spring and summer of 2001, but the four-mile race returned 12 months later and the major National Hunt racing stables were now targeting it.

The then Champion Trainer Martin Pipe’s Stormez – with Britain’s top jockey Tony McCoy in the saddle - saw off the challenge of General Claremont, from the training yard of the present-day Champion Trainer Paul Nicholls.

The Pipe yard followed up in 2003 with victory going to Jurancon II.

As the race’s standing grew, subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Take The Stand, from the west Wales stables of Peter Bowen, took the honours in 2004, while the longest-priced winner of the race came in 2005 when Rheindross, at 25-1, crossed the finishing line first.

Two years ago, it was another Peter Bowen-trained horse that was victorious.  McKelvey was ridden by Tony McCoy.

And so to 12 months ago when, unusually for the English Summer National, the going was testing after unseasonal heavy rain.  In the previous six races, it had always been ‘good to firm’.

Kock De La Vesvre won as the 5-1 joint favourite, the only time in seven runnings to date that the market leader has emerged triumphant.  Sam Thomas, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year on Denman, was riding for trainer Venetia Williams.

Admission and contact details for Sunday 29 June

The first race is due off at 2.15pm. The last is at 5.35pm.

Premier Enclosure £20; Grandstand Enclosure £16; Centre Course Family Enclosure £8.  Accompanied children under 16 always admitted free.  Car parking is free.

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