DISPATCHES FROM THE SOUTH AND WEST MIDLANDS: 17 AND 18 JANUARY

James King was the main beneficiary of the weekend’s racing, a win at Revesby Park on Saturday and a Sunday Larkhill double taking him five clear at the top of the jockeys’ championship.

His trip to the Lincolnshire venue was rewarded with a win in the Mixed Open on Linelee King – trained by Camilla Murphy, wife of rules handler Olly – while Chris Barber’s Grace A Vous Enki went nine from nine at the Wiltshire track with an emphatic performance in the Mixed Open. Barber himself has a phenomenal 66% strike rate this season, with eight wins from 12 runs. King doubled-up on the Welsh-trained One For Snowy in the concluding bumper.

Grace A Vous Enki and James King – nine out of nine at Larkhill (Tim Holt)

Also at Larkhill, 16-year-old Lucas Murphy showed why he’s such a talent when taking the Novice Riders race on the ex-Paul Nicholls trained Histrionic, while there was plenty of success for West Mercian and South Midlands connections at Sheriff Hutton in Yorkshire on the same day.

Joe O’Shea and Amber Jackson-Fennell combined to take the Ladies Open with the progressive Barton Snow, the popular Fumet D’Oudairies – trained and ridden by Gina Andrews – marked his return to the pointing scene by winning the opening Conditions race, and Joe Hill’s Barito won the closing Young Horse Maiden impressively. A date at the Cheltenham Sales on Saturday beckons.

Fumet D'Oudairies - made a successful return to pointing at Sheriff Hutton (Neale Blackburn)