Gentleman Brewer finally raises a glass to becoming champion

He never seems to be short of rides but one prize had always eluded him. Now he is planning a party to celebrate after being crowned Yorkshire’s leading gentleman champion jockey.

His career total adds up to 109 point-to-point wins and 12 hunter chase wins. He had his first win in a race at the age of 21 and in 1999 he was the leading Yorkshire Novice Gentleman rider.

Brewer has been close to becoming champion jockey on a number of occasions, not least in 2006 when he was in the lead on the last day of the season but lost out when his horse ran out at the second to last fence, leaving Ben Woodhouse, who was in second place in the title race, to win the race and therefore the championship.

“The first time I went to a point-to-point was to sell programmes when I was about 10,” said Brewer. “I did all the Pony Club things, including mounted games, and then I went to ride out in the school holidays at David Easterby’s yard and that’s when the racing bug started to take hold.”

His parents were keen for him to gain some academic qualifications and he studied civil engineering at Lougborough University. “When I graduated, I couldn’t get a job in engineering so I went back into racing to earn some money to pay off my debts,” said Brewer.

That was supposed to be a temporary measure but he never did get to work as an engineer. Race riding proved to be much more of an attraction. His first job was working for Jenny Pitman in Lambourn for a year and then he headed back home to Yorkshire to work for the Walford family.

“I rode my first winner for them and everything went from there,” said Brewer. He went on to work for Tim Easterby and was then head lad at Bryan Smart’s racing yard at Hambleton.

Now Brewer and his wife, Freya, run their own yard near Hovingham where they break-in and train racehorses and point-to-pointers. He also has a long standing relationship with Mary Sowersby’s yard and has ridden for some of the same owners for the past 13 or 14 years.

Clocking up 109 wins is, he admits, “quite a good score.” Point-to-point riders are a notoriously hardy breed and suffer their share of setbacks and injuries. So far in his career, he has had four broken collarbones and a broken leg. His worst fall was no on a racecourse, however, but happened when he was riding an excitable young horse at home. When a strap on the girth broke, he became trapped underneath the horse. His resulting injuries included severe damage to his larynx and meant “a rapid trip trip to intensive care.”

“We are a pretty tough bunch,” says Brewer, who has no thoughts about retiring yet. “Race riding is something you either love or you hate – and winning is addictive.”

Paralympic star forced to miss Europeans

THE leading British para equestrian dressage rider, Lee Pearson, is out of the running for selection for the European Championships in September after a fall from his horse during a training session. He suffered several fractured vertebrae and will be out of the saddle for the next eight weeks.

An MRI scan showed that he had fractured three vertebrae and crushed a fourth.

“The news came as quite a shock,” said Pearson. “ I thought I must have sprained it as I’m able to carry on with life pretty much as normal. It’s just uncomfortable to ride; I never dreamed it could be broken.”

The fractures are stable and he expects to make a full recovery but he has been advised not to ride to allow everything time to heal.

Pearson, 37, from Cheddleton in Staffordshire, has won nine Paralympic gold medals.

He is philosophical about missing the championships, the last before London 2012 and said: “Nothing is set in stone and I could be riding again sooner than I think but either way, it’s much more important that I’m injury-free and back in form for the London Paralympics next year.”

Once the two remaining selection events at Hickstead and Hartpury have been completed in July, five British riders will be selected to compete at the Para Equestrian Dressage European Championships to be held at Moorsele in Belgium in September.

British riders have won team gold at every Paralympic, World and European Championship since the sport began.

OLIVER TOWNEND took time out from competing at Bramham International Horse Trials last weekend to meet volunteers from the Throstle Nest Riding for the Disabled Group from Bradford.

The group is aiming to raise £70,000 to build a covered arena so that disabled riders can ride all the year round.

Townend donated merchandise from his range and also signed cards, hats and programmes for the volunteers and Pony Club members.

Alysia and Alison saddle up for champion performances

TWO Yorkshire riders were among those returning home with prizes after competing in the final of the British Horse Society National Equitation Competition at Warwickshire College.

The competition is designed to encourage young riders who do not own their own horses. A total of 36 riders took part in the final after qualifying at regional events held at BHS approved riding centres.

Among them was Alysia Webster, who rides at Back Lane Stables in Farnley, Leeds and who won the 17 years and under category.

Alysia took part in the competition when she was 14 and was placed 11th. “I’m now 16 and again riding Archie, so I’m happy to have actually won,” said Alysia.

She has been riding at the stables since she was five and is a keen member of the riding club. Last summer, she was crowned champion of champions after gaining the most points in the club’s show-jumping.

Alison Pashby, who rides at Friars’ Hill Riding Stables in Sinnington, won the 13 years and under category. Alison said: “I have been riding since I was four and have been at Friars’ Hill since I was six. I am completely surprised, having never really competed very much, to have won the biggest thing I have ever done.”