Sunglasses required on a glorious day at Larkhill as Sarah Dawson increases her lead in the AGA All Comers championship

Five minutes after arriving I was scurrying back to the car to retrieve my sunglasses and my brand new selfie stick! Those who know me well will be aware that I rarely miss an opportunity for a selfie (or a piece of cake, Heather), but this particular selfie wasn’t my idea…

Nina Squires and the AGA man
Nina Squires and the AGA man

There wasn’t time to use the selfie stick again but the sunglasses were needed all afternoon as Larkhill was bathed in winter sunshine. Don’t get me wrong, this is the beginning of February after all, but it was warm enough for me to ditch my coat by the time I was on duty for the ladies open presentation.

Jody Sole has just won the Club Members race on Hincheslea Moor
Jody Sole has just won the Club Members race on Hincheslea Moor
Willow Bird has just won the Qinetiq Restricted, giving Billy Widdick win number 200 between the flags!
Willow Bird has just won the Qinetiq Restricted, giving Billy Widdick win number 200 between the flags!
200 up for Will!
200 up for Will!
My Flora was a tidy 10 length winner of the AGA sponsored ladies open and this lot were quite pleased!
My Flora was a tidy 10 length winner of the AGA sponsored ladies open and the owner/trainer/jockey combination were quite pleased!
10 more points for me!
10 more points for me!
Megan Nicholls and Emily  Petts
Megan Nicholls and Emily Petts
Whoops, watch that trophy!
Whoops, watch that trophy!

There was much excitement after the AGA sponsored ladies open race – won by My Flora and Hannah Watson – as the win gained owner, Sarah Dawson another 10 points for the AGA All Comers championship. Sarah has strengthened her lead and now has 34 points, she is also chasing the award for the most points earned in the championship!

Another reminder about those points!
Another reminder about those points!
We were entertaining our guests in the Queen's Building so missed the presentation after Benedictus had won the Coronation Cup. Thankfully we didn't have far to look in order to get our photo (minus the jockey who was otherwise engaged).
We were entertaining our guests in the Queen’s Building so missed the presentation after Benedictus had won the Coronation Cup. Thankfully we didn’t have far to look in order to get our photo, minus the jockey who was otherwise engaged (just as well as I can’t possibly put another photo of Will Biddick in this post – can I?).
26 year old Olivia Lamphee opened her account when taking the Jockey Club Mares' Maiden on her own Kayf Collateral
26 year old Olivia Lamphee opened her account when taking the Jockey Club Mares’ Maiden on her own Kayf Collateral
I've seen PPA Chairman, Tim Curtis at every point-to-point meeting that I've been to this season
I’ve seen PPA Chairman, Tim Curtis at every point-to-point meeting that I’ve been to this season
Go on then, just one more! I was admiring the hat that Helen Stoneman is wearing so that's my excuse for this photo!
Go on then, just one more! I was admiring the hat that Helen Stoneman is wearing so that’s my excuse for this photo!
Leanda Tickle finally gets her new AGA hat... she is also in joint 2nd place in the AGA championship for lady riders
Leanda Tickle finally gets her new AGA hat… she is also in joint 2nd place in the AGA championship for lady riders (as you can see from the sad face her mum would like a hat too!)
It's Leanda again - she's rivalling Biddick for blog pictures - this time with our favourite Welsh boy, John Mathias!
It’s Leanda again – she’s rivalling Biddick for blog pictures – this time with our favourite Welsh boy, John Mathias!
Lucy Wheeler has just won the Intermediate for Big Al on Done A Runner
Lucy Wheeler has just won the Intermediate for Big Al on Done A Runner

Mrs S wanted to kick on before the last so that we could get a bit of daylight driving under our belts, however, I grabbed the camera (and the car keys) and did a runner. I’m so pleased that I did because I would have missed a win for Lucy Wheeler, on the aptly named Done A Runner! The photos are not the best I have ever taken, but at least I got some.

Lucy is not aware of the grief I am about to get for still being here...
Lucy is not aware of the grief I am about to get for still being here…
Still time for a few more pics, this time with the AGA hat in place!
Still time for a few more pics, this time with the AGA hat in place!

I’d already taken the AGA banners down (just as well) but still wasn’t prepared for the rocket I got when I eventually made it back to the car. Oh well, it was worth it, although it could have been much worse as I was looking longingly at the party which was in full swing as we pulled away. My foot hovered over the brake but I thought better of it and I’m sure the Barbers will have many more parties before the season is over. Anyway, that couldn’t possibly take the gloss off another fabulous day on a point-to-point course, but it was a quiet journey home!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.