Victoria Pendleton declared herself “really pleased” to have cleared 17 fences without mishap here as the former cyclist got her first taste of horse racing over obstacles on Sunday at the Black Forest Lodge point-to-point course in Devon. Riding the ploddy-but-safe Minella Theatre, she was detached from the other runners by halfway and eventually pulled up before the second-last fence, which may seem a modest definition of success to some but would count as a considerable achievement if, like Pendleton, you had first climbed aboard a horse just nine months ago.
Whether she can improve fast enough to take part in the Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March remains open to question but the plan is for her to get plenty more practice over the coming weeks. The mere fact that she took part here, on the opening day of the point-to-point season, was enough to impress some of the 1,000 or so spectators, particularly in light of the fact that she had fallen off in a race on the Flat when last seen.
This was a low-key event, which suited Pendleton and the backers of her “switching saddles” project. No jockey wants the added pressure of being the centre of attention for their jump racing debut and a late switch to this venue, south of Exeter, from an alternative race at Cottenham, near Cambridge, meant no one was watching beyond the usual West Country enthusiasts. Media presence was minimal.
Minella Theatre was offered as the 7-2 second-favourite when betting opened, which in a field of nine was hardly generous in the circumstances. Setting aside the inexperience of his rider, the 12-year-old did not have a strong record in his days as a professional racehorse, a selling hurdle at Catterick having provided his only victory in the past five years. The key statistic from his 36 races was that he never fell and he unseated his jockey only once.
Nor was there so much as a wobbly moment here. Indeed, he and Pendleton were to the fore initially, approaching the first fence in second place, towards the outside of the pack. They remained in the thick of the action for the next half-mile but then drifted towards the rear and hacked around in their own time.
“I thoroughly enjoyed that. It’s nice to get the first one under your belt,” said Pendleton, who admitted to having been shaken by the sight of a fall in the previous race, from which the horse involved took time to rise. “That was my biggest concern. It just always makes your heart stop, I think. So for me it was just about both of us getting round safely in one piece.
“I was just trying to get a clear view of the first few fences, for my own confidence. People started then to manoeuvre around and try to find a space and to be honest I probably didn’t get him on it early enough, I didn’t give him a shove and encouragement early enough and we just kind of plodded round a bit.
“But I felt in control of the whole thing. I know I lost a lot of distance but I thought, if I pop the fences until we get to a stage where I think, this horse has had enough … The last one, we kind of shuffled in and I thought, now it’s time to pull up. I could hear them already calling the winners around the corner, so I knew there was no point continuing. I just wanted, for my own experience and peace of mind, to do as much as possible and I’m really happy with that.”
Pendleton was praised by Minella Theatre’s trainer, Alan Hill, who has been coaching her. “For someone that’s ridden as short a time as she has, to do that is brilliant,” he said. “She sat with him really well over the fences, she went where I told her to go, so that was all good.”
Hill will use Minella Theatre and another horse with a similar profile, According To Sarah, to give Pendleton some more positive experiences before she is legged up on Sedgemoor Express, who, in the parlance, is “a sharper sort”. The suggestion is that he and Pendleton could win something together if she makes sufficient progress. In the meantime, her next spin around may be at Barbury racecourse, near Marlborough, next Sunday.
