HARKAWAY CLUB CELEBRATES 100 YEARS AT CHADDESLEY CORBETT: 2015-2024
- jakeexelby
- Dec 20, 2025
- 4 min read
In the final article about the Harkaway Club centenary at Chaddesley Corbett, we focus on the most recent decade, which saw two Cheltenham Foxhunters winners use the fixture as their stepping stone to Festival glory, as well as an epic battle between a past and future winner of the Hunter Chase Blue Riband.
The 2014/2015 meeting saw plenty of doubles. Trainer Phil Rowley and jockey Alex Edwards were on the mark with Temple Grandin in the Mens Open and Khyber Kim – a former Champion Hurdle runner-up – in the Club Members. John and Amber Mathias won the Restricted and one of the three Maidens on the card, while trainer-rider Tom Weston was responsible for the winners of the other two Maidens. Performance of the day came from 14yo That’s Rhythm in the Ladies Open for Charlotte and Page Fuller.
2015/2016 was yet another season with multiple divisions, a full house of double-figure fields and over 100 runners. Temple Grandin repeated his success in the Mens Open for the Rowley-Edwards combo, and there were wins for future professional jockeys Stan Sheppard (Black Banjo – Maiden) and Jordan Nailor (Argentato – Novice Riders), along with Noel George, now training in France, who won the other division of the Novice Riders race on Big Fella Thanks, fourth when joint-favourite for the 2010 Grand National when trained by Paul Nicholls. Among the other equine talent on display was the progressive mare Frelia, who took the Restricted for Bradley Gibbs.
There was a record 144 runners in 2016/2017 on an 11-race card – the author remembers backing seven winners, all at odds against. There were trebles for Jack Andrews – two of whose victories were for Stuart Morris – and the Phil Rowley and Alex Edwards partnership, for whom Temple Grandin won at the meeting for a third year in a row, in a division of the Conditions race. Andrews’ sister Gina won the Ladies Open on Vedettariat, formerly trained by Willie Mullins, while other familiar faces on the scoresheet were Robert and Sam Waley-Cohen, who took one of four Maiden divisions, and Joe O’Shea’s mare Executive Benefit. She had won the Maiden in 2013/2014 – this time she was successful in the Novice Riders race.
Multiple divisions and over 100 runners were again the case in 2017/2018, with several interlocking doubles. Steve Whistance owned two winners – Bleu Et Or was trained by Carlie Packwood, and ridden by Hannah Lewis, who trained and rode War Path for Whistance. Packwood’s other success was with Tucks Bergin, ridden by Lorcan Williams, who also won on Winterberry. The star horse was Top Wood, who won the Ladies Open with Gina Andrews in the saddle. He went on to be second in the Cheltenham Foxhunters, then third in 2019 before winning the Aintree equivalent.
2018/2019 was the fourth year in a row with over 100 winners, and there was another Foxhunters winner on display. Ten years after Cappa Bleu had taken the Mens Open en route to Cheltenham success, Hazel Hill, owned by Harkaway Club Vice Chair Diana Williams, trained by Phil Rowley and ridden by Alex Edwards, did likewise. The useful Virak won the Ladies Open for Natalie Parker, and there was a double for Gina Andrews and a first win for future champion conditional jockey Luca Morgan.
Two years of abandonments followed, although the second was due to waterlogging, rather than lockdown, which affected so many meetings. When the Harkaway Club returned, on 28th December 2021, the sport had changed after Covid. There were fewer runners, and no further divisions at the fixture, but the action remained top class.
Highlight of the card was the Mens Open, in which Cheltenham Foxhunters winner Porlock Bay was odds-on to beat the improving Premier Magic, trained and ridden by Bradley Gibbs. But the younger horse was victorious and, while his Festival bid failed in 2022, he’d be back with a vengeance a year later. Gibbs had initiated a double on Fier Jaguen, another classy individual, and there were also two wins for multiple champion jockey Gina Andrews. Al Shahir took the Veterans Race and Dubai Quest won the Ladies Open, which saw Andrews equal the record for point-to-point winners by a female jockey, a total she passed a few days later at Horseheath.
At the other end of the scale, 16-year-old Olive Nicholls enjoyed a first win on Virak – returning to the scene of his 2019 win – in the Novice Riders race. She went on to be leading female novice that season.
2022/2023 was a day to remember for Bradley Gibbs, with a treble, initiated by Theshoddytradesman in the Restricted. Fier Jaguen won for him again, this time in the Mens Open, as Premier Magic geared up for his Foxhunters triumph in the Veterans Race, a hugely impressive performance under the welter burden of 12st10lbs in soft ground. Olive Nicholls enjoyed another win at the meeting, on Shantou Flyer in the Ladies Open. They went on to be third to Premier Magic at Cheltenham, a third placing in the race for Shantou Flyer.
The 2023/2024 running was abandoned, which brings us up to date with last year’s running of the Harkaway Club fixture. It was a day for the Andrews family, with Gina training four winners – three of which she rode herself – notably Master Templar, her 400th career winner in the Ladies Open, and I’m Spellbound in the Conditions Race. Her fourth was ridden by brother Jack.
The progressive Important Notice took the Intermediate for trainer-jockey Josh Newman, while the Mens Open went to Jeux D’Eau, trained by Laura Richardson and ridden by her partner Huw Edwards. They went on to capture the Lady Dudley Cup at the same venue for the second year in a row as well as the John Corbet Cup at Stratford and Jeux D’Eau looks a star of the future as the Harkaway Club enters its second century at Chaddesley Corbett.
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