Smith seizes the moment

New face Becky Smith clinches pole position in this competitive hunt ride, while a team of non-thoroughbreds head the Foxhunters race

- LUCY ELDER

Fox Grant Silver Spur, Barnetts Barn Farm, Warks

BECKY SMITH capped her stellar first season of hunt races with a win on her consistent campaigner Important Moment in a thrilling finish to the fifth running of the Silver Spur.

The pair were chased home by Mark Heuffand Thegreendalerocket (Rocky), hungry for back-to-back hunt race victories following their Quorn win (report, 29 April).

Mark and Becky cemented their lead in the race’s latter stages, jumping upsides each other three out and rising in tandem again at the second-last. But Becky had the fresher horse and teased a gap in the run-in to the final fence.

Becky, who was third at the Quorn and second in the Wynnstay, said it was watching idol Yvonne Goss (“I’ve always wanted to be like her”) and the “brilliant” Jaffa that inspired her to give hunt races a try.

“I’ve wanted to do it for years and this was my chance. I had a fantastic run,” said Becky, who collected more prizes than she could carry, including first lady and first retrained racehorse.

Zack Davidson and Remarkable Man, third in 2019, set a fierce early pace in the hope of running the rest of the field out of puff. Like all best-laid plans, it didn’t quite survive contact with the enemy. Joe Stevenson came unstuck from his 2018 winner San Cassiano in the brook and the loose horse went on to carry out Zack at fence 10. While the blip cost Zack only seconds to correct, it left the door ajar for Becky and Mark to take control.