DISPATCHES FROM THE SOUTH AND WEST MIDLANDS: 7 AND 8 FEBRUARY

It was another successful weekend for the two Areas, with participants from West Mercia and the South Midlands involved in all six victories at Higham and seven of the nine successes at Larkhill (including a dead-heat!) To cap it off, Fred Timmis and Henry Bailey made the long journey to Friars Haugh and came back with a win at the Borders course courtesy of Sharing Is Caring in the Restricted.

Connections celebrate after Sharing Is Caring's Restricted win (Sean Tasker-Brown)

At Higham on Saturday, there was a first win – on just her second ride – for 17-year-old Willow Johnson, daughter of the legendary Richard, one of the greatest jockeys of his generation, on Jimmy The Digger in the Ladies Open.

Alan Hill and James King came back from the Essex venue with a double on Senior Citizen (3m4f Conditions) and Reel More Fun (Maiden), while Bradley Gibbs also bagged a brace, training and riding the South Midlands-qualified Practice Run (Restricted) as well as Fier Jaguen (Mens Open). And the Francesca Poste-trained and Cerys Sheehy-ridden Hubrisko took the first Jockey Club Hands & Heels race of the season, a third win of the campaign for this combination.

Alan Hill's Reel More Fun and James King before their Maiden win

Star of the show at a wet Larkhill on Sunday was Grace A Vous Enki, who took the Coronation Cup classic race – his tenth victory from ten starts at the Wiltshire track – for Chris Barber and James King. James now has a lead of six as he seeks a fifth jockeys championship.

James King with owners Clive and Joan Hitchings and the impressive Coronation Cup trophy (Graham Fisher)

Fil D’Ariane, owned, trained and ridden by Doug White (older readers will remember his mother Rosemary being a top female jockey in the late 1970s and early 1980s) was an impressive winner of the Novice Riders race, while Boley Bob came out on top in a battle royale for the first division of the Restricted for Joe O’Shea and Henry Crow.

Tom Lacey and Sean O’Connor combined to take both divisions of the Maiden on odds-on shots Gallant Tide and Hive Runner – it’s even longer odds-on that neither will be seen in points again this season as they go racing under rules – while the concluding Flat Race saw a dead-heat for two West Mercian debutants – Dadavic, trained by Justin Brotherton, and Miss Spec, a first success for handler Oliver Hayes. They were ridden by South Midlands jockeys – respectively, Sam Lee and Charlie Case.