Jumps couple Lord and Anthea Leigh enjoy a winner with Torcello at muddy West Yorkshire track

Easter may have been and gone but midwinter ground remains and it was fitting that a renowned jumps couple should score their first Flat success on a day when jockeys called the ground "desperate" and vehicles were being towed out of the mud in the car park.

Lord Leigh has owned many jumpers and although his wife Anthea is raceday clerk of the course at York, she is just as famous for winning the Topham Chase over the Grand National fences on J-J-Henry for her Gold Cup-winning father Peter Beaumont.

The couple have unexpectedly found themselves owning the Shaun Lycett-trained Torcello and made the journey up from Gloucestershire to see the topweight show the guts and stamina of a staying chaser as he battled to success in the three-runner 1m4f handicap.

"Neither of us have had a Flat horse so this is great fun!" said Anthea Leigh, who rides out the ten-year-old on occasions.

"I've been quite a lucky owner," her husband said. "Famfoni was probably my best horse, he won over the cross-country course at Cheltenham a few years back, but most of them have won or been placed. Shaun trains on our place and we helped him out by taking this horse as the original owner was cutting back. I can virtually see him out of the bedroom window.

"He's my first Flat horse and with only three runners we thought we'd get some prize-money. Anthea rides him but it's Shaun most of the time and he's 14st so the horse probably thought he was loose with 9st 11lb."

An inspection was held after concerns were raised by stable staff over the condition of the stable yard and walkway over to the course from the stables. But the stewards were satisfied that racing could go ahead with immediate remedial work being carried out to rectify the issue.

Pyle on

Apprentice William Pyle starred in the feature £30,000 5f handicap, judging things perfectly to make all on The Bell Conductor for his boss Craig Lidster. 

But the 5lb claimer said: "I can't take any of the credit, Craig and the owner made the plan and I just stuck to it and the horse saw it out well. I just let him do what he wants, I just sat there and looked pretty!

William Pyle: shone on The Bell ConductorCredit: David Carr

"He's a super horse, I ride him out and like him a lot. He was nice and fresh. I wasn't sure about the ground but I thought he was enjoying himself going to post."

Pyle, 22, beat his personal-best with 24 winners in 2023 and looking ahead to this season he said: "I just want to improve on last year, whether that's by one winner or one ride. It was a quiet winter but things are picking up again now."

'They've done a tremendous job'

The weighing room has been completely revamped and rebuilt since last season and Pontefract's £700,000 investment got a thumbs-up from the first jockeys to use the new facilities.

"They've done a tremendous job," said Connor Beasley. "Everybody is very happy with it."

Hollie Doyle added: "It's much better, it's how they should all be – sadly, some aren't." 

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