Saffie Osborne leads ‘home team’ fightback in Racing League

PA Sport Reporters
August 8, 2024 8:00 pm

Week three at Chepstow proves to be an action-packed affair.

A brilliant night for Wales & The West at Chepstow saw Jamie Osborne’s team move right to the heels of The East in the Racing League.

Just over 100 points adrift of The East at the start of play, the defending champions were in business in race two, courtesy of league specialist Saffie Osborne and the Brian Meehan-trained Von Baer (4-1 favourite).

Osborne senior said: “I think Brian was fairly confident, no matter what the ground – he’s a nice horse.”

The successful jockey added: “I was left in front a long way from home and he got lonely, but he was always pulling out enough. He’s still very lightly raced and there’s more to come.”

Wales & The West again showed taking their crown will not be easy, with Osborne getting Ed Walker’s Fantasy Believer (9-1) home in race six, beating Rathgar and David Probert representing the charging London & The South.

Leading rider in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Racing League, Osborne said: “He’s such a legend of a horse! Ed’s team have done an amazing job getting him back to the form he’s in.”

The evening was complete for the ‘home team’ when Osborne pounced late on Michael Bell’s Carrytheone (2-1 favourite) to win the finale, the feature Take tote Home With You tote.co.uk Racing League 21 Handicap over seven furlongs, getting the verdict in a three-way photo. There was drama near the line, with Oisin Orr and Maywake crashing to the ground. Thankfully, both horse and jockey were quickly to their feet.

A beaming Osborne told Sky Sports Racing: “Three yards before the line I didn’t think I was going to get up, then on the line I thought ‘I’ve got that!’.”

Also making inroads were the aforementioned London & The South, with Oisin Murphy helping Matt Chapman’s outfit to a treble of their own.

Immediate gains came for them with a one-two in the opener, as Eve Johnson Houghton’s Great Acclaim (10-1) picked up 25 points for first under Charlie Bishop and Andrew Balding’s Lady Flora took another 18 in the hands of former champion Murphy.

Johnson Houghton said: “He’s improving all the time, which is good, and luckily he doesn’t win by too far so the handicapper can’t do too much about it.”

A rare visitor to Chepstow, Murphy did not have to wait much longer to bag a winner of his own, denying Havana Rum (The North) in race three aboard Richard Hannon’s Gisburn (100-30).

And it got even better for Murphy and London & The South when the Balding-trained Lieber Power (9-4 favourite) wore down The East’s Walter Hartright in the mile-and-a-half handicap that was race five on the card.

Murphy said: “Andrew has placed him really well and he enjoyed that. It was a good spot for him.”

There was a notable double for Manila Scouse (7-1), who repeated last year’s victory in the five-furlong handicap here for Tim Easterby and David Allan to give Yorkshire maximum points in race four.

Allan said: “He likes a trip down here! He likes the rain, too, and stays six, so when it rained we knew he had a big chance.”

At the conclusion of what turned into a gloomy evening weather-wise, The East sat on 424 points – just seven and a half points in front of Wales & The West. London & The South kept in touch on 374 points, from Ireland with 328.