Coward family saddles up to host point to point opener

During a 15-year period Jacqueline has ridden more than 150 winners in point to point meetings and a further 20-plus hunter chases. She claimed the Yorkshire ladies’ title nine or ten times and capped it all off three years ago with the national ladies’ title, but she will not be racing this season. Jacqueline has officially retired and is keeping a good humour but when next Sunday comes around things might be a good deal different.

“I’m not happy about it,” she says with a smile but also depth of feeling. “It’s getting very hard just now. I’ve sold a pair of my boots but I’m finding it hard to get rid of any of my stuff and I’m definitely not selling my saddle. I’ve loved racing and always will, nobody makes you do it. I’ve had plenty of injuries but you just shut up, suck it up and get on with it.”

On her daughter’s decision to retire, Cherry says: “Jacqueline came off at the Easingwold meeting last year and for the first time she said ‘that bloody hurt’. She’d had a number of spills previously including breaking her back and being concussed on more than one occasion but this was taken as the signal for her to finish at the end of last season.”

Cherry, helped in no small part by having racehorse trainer Mick Easterby as her father, was already a point to point trainer and rider before she married her husband Ralph. The couple lived at Thorganby near Selby where Cherry had her horses prior to moving back north in 2006. They now have land in both locations but Cherry prefers the Howardian Hills.

“The land here is more forgiving for the horses although not so easy for growing crops. We have around 100 acres down mostly to grass for hay and haylage but also some cereals, oilseed rape and this year we have carrots. We currently have around 15 horses that are either ours, or ours but with part ownerships by others, owned by syndicates or individuals.

“Dad was a point to point jockey. He rode for his brother Peter. Tim, my cousin, also rode and now his son William is the top point to point jockey in Yorkshire. My advice to anyone racing is to ride straight and ride your own race. Don’t listen to anybody else. On my second ride I had Jack Peckitt come up on my inner and pass me. It never happened again. I used to have paint on my boots at the end of the race having gone so close to the posts that had been freshly painted.”

The days when many farmers had their own horse at home and took part in point to point meetings are largely consigned to history. Today it is stables such as Cherry Coward Racing that provide the runners and Cherry is hopeful that her top horse One Conemara will run well again this year.

“One Conemara won the Grimthorpe Gold Cup last year at the Middleton point to point meeting that is also held at Sherriff Hutton. It’s the feature race for the northern area and is a gruelling four miles over 25 fences. Richard Smith rode him to victory holding him in a useful third place for much of the way before striding for home inside the last three jumps.”

It was Cherry who touted for this first meeting of the Yorkshire season both as an additional date to the calendar and for it to be held at her dad’s farm.

“Some other areas have a lot more meetings and I asked why we couldn’t have another one but there were no more hunts in the area to organise another that way. I thought why not have one that is run as a club making money at the same time for Air Ambulance, after all everyone in the countryside needs it at some time or other. I dropped enough hints to dad about how good his field was and how the slope would provide a grandstand view. I planted the seed and watched it grow. It’s a very fair track where you can run any type of horse.”

Training horses is Cherry’s speciality. She’s not a breeder.

“You can’t run a horse until it is four-years-old and there’s no accounting for each one. Some are born racehorses but with others it is like kids going to play school, nursery, primary and big school before the penny drops. You can’t make a tonne of animal race if it doesn’t want to. You have to nurture and look after each and every one.

“The only way to really teach any racehorse is by taking it to a racecourse. You can school it until you’re blue in the face at home by which time it may look, run and jump perfectly but that’s not the same as the real race experience of tannoys, microphones, walking around the ring, the jockey getting on board, the crowds. It’s a whole different atmosphere that some take to and others don’t.”

Cherry’s dad is gunning for a record this season with veteran horse My Old Piano trying to beat Cherry’s own record-breaking winner Urser who had 32 wins. It’s a family thing.

“Piano is a legend. He’s either 14 or 15-years-old now and only needs either one or two wins to beat Urser. Jacqueline and William have both ridden him before and of course he’s that good a horse that any good jockey would want to ride him.”

And with that Cherry was off preparing her practice jumps at Low Moor for One Conemara with young jockey Jack Andrews, who won his first race last year. He has a long way to go to beat his uncle Andrew Thornton - he has ridden more than 1,000 winners.

YORKSHIRE POINT TO POINT FIXTURES 2017

Five months of point to point racing fixtures feature:

JANUARY: Yorkshire Area at Sheriff Hutton (15th)

FEBRUARY: Sinnington at Duncombe Park (12th); West of Yore at Askham Bryan (26th)

MARCH: Derwent at Charm Park (5th); Holderness at Dalton Park (12th); Hurworth at Hutton Rudby (18th); Badsworth & Bramham at Askham Bryan (25th)

APRIL: Middleton at Sheriff Hutton (2nd); Bedale at Hornby Castle (8th); Cleveland at Morden (16th); Staintondale at Charm Park (17th); York & Ainsty at Easingwold (23rd); Pendle Forest & Craven at Heslaker (29th)

MAY: Zetland at Witton Castle (1st); Bilsdale at Easingwold (7th); South Durham at Sedgefield Racecourse (13th)