Allan makes winning return (From Gazette & Herald)

Allan makes winning return

Twenty-five days after fracturing his right collar bone in a crashing fall at Pontefract, David Allan was back in business at the same course on Monday.

The ambitious Ryedale jockey wasted no time in returning to the winners' circle, gaining a fluent success on Misphire, who was continuing an excellent run of form for Allan's boss, Tim Easterby, who was sending out his fourth winner in three days.

"My collar bone is a little bit sore, but otherwise it's fine," said Allan, referring to the injury which cost him several winning rides while he was on the sidelines.

The first of those scorers was Go Tech, who won at Pontefract just half-an-hour after Allan had damaged his collar bone in an incident in a sprint handicap.

Riding Musical Fair for trainer Jeremy Glover, who was squeezed for room and fell approaching the final furlong, Allan was on his way to Pinderfields Hospital when Go Tech was doing his stuff in a £20,000 handicap under late substitute Kevin Darley.

"The collar bone was fractured, rather than broken, but it was the damage to the ligaments around it that was most painful," said Allan, who had hoped to return to the saddle last Sunday.

"I was trying to get back in time to ride King's Gait at Musselburgh, but because of the 48-hour declaration for Sunday racing, I would have had to confirm my fitness on the Friday. That was just pushing it a little bit, so I had to delay coming back until Monday," he explained.

King's Gait, also trained by Easterby, duly won the feature race at Musselburgh, ridden by Graham Gibbons, who also deputised successfully on stablemate Game Lad - a double which came after another Easterby winner, Mrs Moh at Catterick on Saturday, which was also ridden by Gibbons.

With the Easterby horses in such rude health, Allan will be hoping to add to his personal tally as the Flat turf season, set to end two weeks on Saturday, enters its final lap.

Thanks to Misphire, Allan is now on the 49-winner mark for the year. His milestone half-century should not be long in coming.

Carte Diamond, a rare Ryedale flag-bearer in Australia, remains firmly on course for the £1 million-plus Melbourne Cup next weekend, despite finishing out of the frame in his prep race, in which he met more than a little trouble in running.

In an ambitious assault 'down under', the talented Norton colt, winner of the November Handicap at Doncaster last season and runner up in the Ebor Handicap at York in August, contested last Saturday's Caulfield Cup, a race which carried a first prize of more than £600,000, but finished out of the money in ninth place after becoming the victim of some early scrimmaging.

"He was a bit unlucky. He got 'murdered' after a couple of furlongs and was shuffled back in the field. But then he stayed on well to be beaten only four-and-a-half lengths," said trainer Brian Ellison after the race.

While the Caulfield Cup is run over a mile-and-a-half around a tight track, the Melbourne Cup is over two miles on the more spacious Flemington course.

"The bigger track and extra distance will certainly help us in the Melbourne Cup. That's the race we're after," added Ellison, who remains upbeat that Carte Diamond can sparkle on October 31.

Kevin Darley, fast approaching yet another seasonal century of winners, will be firmly in the spotlight this weekend.

The Sheriff Hutton jockey, now well into the 'nervous nineties,' with just over a fortnight of the turf campaign still to run, will be aboard Winged Cupid in Saturday's Racing Post Trophy, the final Group One race of the season, which boasts prize money of more than £180,000.

This celebrated juvenile event, won last year by Motivator, the subsequent Derby hero, is one which has served Darley well in the past. He has won it a total of three times, and Winged Cupid goes into battle with every chance of making it four.

Trained at Middleham by Mark Johnston, the two-year-old is unbeaten in two starts and he broke the juvenile course record when gaining an impressive two lengths success under Darley at Newbury last month.

Opposition to Winged Cupid will be formidable on Saturday, with Aidan O'Brien and Sir Michael Stoute set to field strong representatives, but the North Yorkshire colt is held in high regard and looks sure to make a bold bid.

He will certainly not lack for assistance from his jockey, who is flying high at present. Darley has enjoyed another fine season and, just a fortnight ago, won two Group One races within a matter of 24 hours on Peeress at Newmarket and Kinnaird at Longchamp in France.

Congratulations to Tim FitzGerald, who went close to pulling off a major handicap triumph last weekend with Inchnadamph in the Tote-sponsored Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket.

Although he was not quite able to lift this famous marathon event, twice won by Tim's late, great father Jimmy with Trainglot and Kayudee, Inchnadamph, a 50-1 shot, which was ridden by Martin Dwyer, finished a highly creditable third to Sergeant Cecil, beaten less than three lengths.

Inchnadamph picked up a prize of £14,300 for his efforts, which came at the end of a season which has seen him go from strength to strength. Sergeant Cecil, though, has gathered even more strength as the months have unfolded and made history as the first horse to win the Cesarewitch, the Ebor and the Northumberland Plate - three major handicaps - in the same season.

There was, incidentally, a fitting tribute to the memory of Jimmy FitzGerald and his late wife, Jane, at Wetherby last week when a race was run in their memory as part of the Spinal Research charity raceday.

Kirsty FitzGerald, daughter of Jimmy and Jane, did the honours at the presentation ceremony after a novices' hurdle, which was won by Flotta, trained by Brendan Powell and ridden by Timmy Murphy.

Robert Gray, who is based at the bottom yard of Tim FitzGerald's Norton Grange establishment, sent out the aptly-named Sheer Guts to win at Market Rasen last Sunday.

The gelding, ridden by Andrew Thornton, had to dig deep from the final flight to get the better of Aleemdar in a tight finish. The victory, achieved on behalf of main patrons Naughty Diesel Ltd, gave Gray, who started training in late summer, with his first jumping success alongside his brace of Flat wins with Bailieborough.

Redcar's final meeting of the season provided Neville Bycroft with the perfect send-off. The Norton trainer won the concluding race of 2005 on the Cleveland course last Friday with Dium Mac, who broke his maiden in the hands of stable apprentice Suzanne France at odds of 16-1.

Tote backers of the winner had even more reason to be pleased, as Dium Mac yielded a near 23-1 dividend on the 'machine' after scoring by one-and-a-half lengths.

Updated: 12:57 Wednesday, October 19, 2005