Snow joke as Regal Flow lands Midlands National just five days after Taunton win

Snow flurries and bottomless ground could not stop the evergreen Regal Flow from notching his second victory in five days as he relentlessly put his rivals to the sword to take the 4m2f Midlands Grand National.

Although the winner is now 11 years old he comes into his own in attritional conditions when the mud is flying and showed no ill effects from his Taunton success last Monday when skipping clear of Milansbar to collect the Betfred sponsored marathon.

His trainer Bob Buckler admitted to a case of the jitters on the motorway travelling from his Dorset base to Staffordshire. He explained: “I was sweating a bit on the way here in the lorry as I was thinking if I had made the right choice in running the horse again so quickly after Taunton as that was over three and a half miles.

"But he had eaten up on Monday night and was bouncing by Wednesday as he did not have a particularly hard race at Taunton, so it turned out to be one of the better decisions I have made over the years to let him take his chance

"Judging by the way he has skipped around in the mud and snow he could go around again and if he comes out of this race as well as he normally does there is no reason why he cannot run again this season."

Buckler is no stranger to National victories as he saddled Niche Market to land the 2009 Irish Grand National and said: “We have won the Irish version and now the Midlands Grand National so it would be nice if one day we could win the proper Grand National at Aintree but for now we will take this win.”

Although Buckler has tasted major race success in the past, it was conditional jockey Sean Houlihan’s biggest victory to date and he declared it was taking a moment or two for everything to sink in. He said: “It’s unbelievable as he only won at Taunton the other day and he has turned out again as fresh as a berry to win a valuable race like this in easy fashion.”

On the turn

Clyne (blue silks, leading): lands the 2m4f handicap hurdle for Evan WilliamsCredit: Grossick Racing 07710461723

It has been the winter of discontent for trainer Evan Williams as his yard near Cardiff has been desperately out of form but in the past couple of weeks there have been positive signs all that is about to change and the win of Clyne in the 2m4f handicap hurdle hinted at better things to come.

The Adam Wedge-partnered eight-year-old was conceding weight all round but still managed to find what was required in the closing stages to rally back past Hitherjacques Lady going to the final hurdle to post a couple of lengths verdict.

Wedge said: “The horses have been out of sorts for much of the winter but in recent days there have been definite signs of a turnaround in fortune, so hopefully we can look forward to a decent spring when the ground eventually does dry out.

“We have not been the only yard that has struggled for a bit of form and the cold snap a couple of weeks ago seemingly sorted any bugs or whatever that were lurking around and the horses seem well in themselves again.”

Ahead of Time

Since landing a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham’s Open meeting 18 months ago, things have not worked out for Behind Time but he put matters right when getting back to winning ways when coming clear of Big River to take the spoils in the 3m novice handicap chase.

Jumping has proved the seven-year-old’s Achilles heel over fences this season but he was much more composed on this occasion and managed to overcome one bad error at the 11th fence before staying on tenaciously for Niall Madden to score by four lengths.

Madden said: “He travelled well and jumped well, apart from just one mistake, and I think the fitting of cheekpieces for the first time have made all the difference as they have helped him concentrate better during the race.”

Behind Time jumps his way to success in the 3m novice handicap chase for Harry FryCredit: Grossick Racing 07710461723

THE BUZZ

Temptation!

Heaven 17 are in concert at Uttoxeter after racing on Saturday May 19th. The chart topping 80’s band will be belting out all their hits old and new. They will be supported by The Lightning Seeds.

Long time coming

Agent Louise was last successful in April 2016 but her connections patience was rewarded as she ran out the winner of the opener at Uttoxeter.

Thought for the day

The weather Gods threw everything at the meeting as the wind chill factor never rose above freezing all afternoon and was backed up by several lengthy snow flurries. After a particularly heavy bout of snow during the sixth race, clerk of the course Charlie Moore consulted the jockeys about running the last two contests but they were adamant about carrying on.

Results, replays and analysis