ON what was a most beautiful spring day high on the Mendips at Ston Easton made the most gorgeous backdrop for a wonderful days racing, writes Rosie Sage.

Although the number of horses running was slightly reduced on last year the quality was as good as ever. The car parks were full the crowd quite huge and moved as one from paddock to start of the races. This is one of the first out door events locally in the year when countryside and town come together, a great catch up amongst old friends and a chance to meet new. A great day out. The warm sunshine and a very light breeze made the day very relaxing and comfortable.

There were six races scheduled together with two pony races, a good afternoon of entertainment for the horse enthusiast, the first race was for novice riders, the winner of this, Paint the Dream came over from Wales, the second is trained at Bruton, by Sam Loxton. Unfortunately, the second race was void due to a lack of entries.

The third race was the Killens ladies, with a little local interest, Amber Rayner, whose horse is trained out of an ancillary yard at Harriet Dickin’s at Midford. This was Amber’s first rider in a point to point and unfortunately, she fell early in the race. The winner had travelled down from Shropshire, some five hours in the lorry, but well worth it.

The fourth race was the Morris & Perry Men’s open the winner of this was Duc De Bourbon trained by Sam Loxton and some of the syndicate owners were present amongst them Laura and Doug Ryall from Evercreech.

The penultimate race, the Tincknell Restricted was trained by Will Biddick, a past champion point to point jockey, who trains at Alhampton, trained the winning horse Far Out West for the Hot Toddie Partnership. A runner in this race was Southfield Scope owned by Angela Yeoman from Frome but was pulled up

The final race of the afternoon was the R M Penny Ltd six-year-old maiden was won by the Luca Morgan trained ridden by James King, the team travelled down form

Warwickshire for this win. Will Biddick trained the third, Strolling Along for third.

He first pony race was for the younger riders, the start for this race was a muddled affair, the winner was Chloe Fox Pitt riding Avalon Dancer who managed to overcome the difficulty at the start.

The second pony race for bigger ponies and older children saw 10 combinations go to post with no problems at the start, the winner was Little Red Corvette ridden by Lowan Cruise Mills with Chloe Fox Pitt coming second on She’s A Corker.

A terrific afternoon with lots of good racing for both horses and ponies and plenty of shopping and food outlets. The children had plenty of entertainment with bouncy castle events, a day out for the whole family, including dogs, as summer is coming all too soon.