'I'm loving my time' - Lanzarote hero Tristan Durrell's father thriving after following his son back into the game

Tristan Durrell must be the only jockey to win the Lanzarote Hurdle and then watch their dad ride in two races.

A day after after winning the race named in honour of that great hurdler of the 1970s – and completing a double on the Kempton card – Durrell went to Ampton in Suffolk to cheer on his father, Ben, who rode in two races. It would finish the story to say Durrell Snr, 48, also rode a double, but a sixth and seventh on Bonamargy and Seven No Trumps completed a fun afternoon in front of a large crowd.

Ex-army but now a farmer and solar panel installer, Ben rode in his first point-to-point over ten years ago, then stood aside for his son.

He said: “We’ve long kept a family point-to-pointer, but then Tristan started riding and I took a back seat. When he became a conditional jockey, I still had an itch and realised I hadn’t completely finished. I started again last season [after four years out], had seven rides and two winners and now I’m waiting for my category A licence [to ride against amateurs under rules].”

Tristan rode in points and hunter chases for five seasons, partnering 18 winners while gradually emerging through the pecking order at Dan Skelton’s yard, which has been his home since he left school.

There is a bit of pedigree on his dam’s side, too, for his mum, Samantha, who was leading up at Ampton, is a daughter of the late Ian Cox, who was assistant trainer to Dick Hern.

Ben, who passes all medical tests with room to spare, said: “I watched Kempton on the telly. The sofa’s broken. Tris has been dedicated to the Skeltons, and because his birthday is late August, he moved there before he was 16. He’s grafted for them and they’ve looked after him. He’s Skelton through and through – they finished bringing him up.

“I’m loving my time in the saddle. Samantha asked ‘are you sure you want to do it again?’ and I said point-to-pointing is a great sport for old men, because if your eyesight’s poor the fences are 4ft tall and 20ft wide – you really can’t miss ‘em.”

Weekend preview

Revesby Park struggles to attract big fields but offers an interesting card on Saturday if beating the frost, which Larkhill has failed to do.

Fier Jaguen, who tackles the men’s open race for trainer Bradley Gibbs, and I’m Spellbound, an intermediate race runner for Tom Ellis, are class acts who are likely to win hunter chases before the season’s over.

I’m Spellbound is also entered at Chipley Park, where he could meet a tough rival in Yippee Ki Yay, and where Ellis newcomer My Reprieve – a winner over fences at Auteuil – and Cheltenham Festival hopeful Quintin's Man are key entries in the mixed open race. Talented Highway Jewel is also entered, but trainer Gibbs says she could run in Cocklebarrow’s Lord Ashton of Hyde’s Cup, worth nearly £2,000 in prize-money.

Revesby’s Jockey Club/RoR veteran horse race can go to the Sara Bradstock-trained Myth Buster, while the meeting also kicks off the JRL Group’s new series of Flat races.

The 13 entries include Batsman (trained by Bradstock) and Batsman Jack (Kelly Morgan), both sons of stallion Jack Hobbs.

Bradstock’s daughter, Lily, who rides the horses, said: “Batsman is a lovely young horse who was very green first time out. We’d like to run Myth Buster, but have Warwick’s hunter chase on Monday as an alternative. We’ve not been held up by the frost, but it makes the days longer because instead of riding to the gallops along The Ridgeway, which is frozen, we have to box there.”

Chipley Park stages the season’s first of 15 mares’ maiden races sponsored by The Jockey Club and leading to a final in late April. West Wales trainer John Mathias runs Fifty Shadesof Bay, who has been placed in Irish point-to-points. He said: “She handles soft ground and jumps like a buck.”

At Friars Haugh, Scotland’s first meeting of the season, the £1,500 mixed open race could head to Dundrum Wood from Ellis’s Warwickshire yard.

Owner Shona Westrope’s family live in Northumberland and so the horse and rider Martha Reeve, Westrope's granddaughter, will break the journey with an overnight stop. Ballydonagh Boy, who dead-heated at Sheriff Hutton on Sunday, is set to run for Sam Coward’s stable and is the key danger.

Saturday

Larkhill, Wiltshire – abandoned

Revesby Park, Lincs, PE22 7NB – 12.00. 6 races, 60 entries

Sunday

Chipley Park, Somerset, TA21 0QU – 12.00. 7 races, 124 entries

Cocklebarrow, Glos, GL54 3PP – 12.00. 7 races, 121 entries

Friars Haugh, Borders, TD5 8LT – 12.30. 7 races, 67 entries

More information at pointtopoint.co.uk & gopointing.com

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