THE latest leg of the Fegentri series took place at Ovrevoll, Norway. The series which comprises a competition for male and female jockeys, featured a race for both sets of riders, with Sheila Ahern representing Ireland in the female event.

We flew into Oslo and we were collected at the airport before being whisked away by bus to Ovrevoll which is the only racecourse in Norway and is situated 15 minutes from Oslo city centre.

The racecourse has both a turf and dirt track. The all-weather surface is also used for trotting races which are extremely popular in that part of the world.

I rode on the straight turf course over 900 metres which is four and a half furlongs. The turf track was extremely fast and on a descent to halfway, where it linked in with the main course, and had a gradual rise to the line.

The race was for horses who were lowly rated and many of them were exposed types who had a poor strike rate. My mount had won one race from 38 attempts although the Swedish-bred mare had recent placed form.

The trainer led the filly to post as the preliminaries tended to get her worked up. She assured me that I would have a lift to the post, when I questioned the stewards regarding my lift to the start, they sharply replied “you, walk” so I was on my way to post!

Once I got to post, she then took plenty of persuasion to enter the stalls. With the mare rooted to the spot, the stalls handlers hauled her forward with the help of the mare’s trainer who firmly and persistently stated the word “no” to her charge, while assuring myself and the stalls handlers that she responded to the command!

The mare entered the stalls and stood quietly before ambling out when they sprang open. She recovered quickly, travelling strongly to halfway. Meeting the intersection with a quarter mile to run, she loomed alongside the leaders, and briefly looked threatening. The lower that I got in the saddle and the more I asked her to go forward, the more she refused to cooperate, eventually crossing the line in fourth place. It seemed she had learned a few tricks in her 38 race career and in my post-race briefing I was keen to emphasis to the trainer that she should employ some headgear on her next start, and if they worked, the mare would have a decent chance in a similar race.

VALUABLE POINTS

Sheila Ahern once again done the nation proud and picked up some valuable points as she finished third on her mount That Was Easy. Sheila has gathered more than 40 points and ranks in fourth place in the competition which is backed by Longines.

The whip has been banned in Norway for a number of years and this was my first experience of riding a race without a whip. My mount seemed to enjoy the luxury, but the riders based there are now accustomed to riding without whips and rely upon other aids such as their voice to encourage horses to put in there maximum effort, so one can imagine what it is like to stand at the furlong pole as the runners go for the line.

Interestingly enough, most of the jockeys based there are South American and are really talented horsemen. They have a good level of English and I tried to grasp as much information from them regarding how to ride the racecourse before going out to view them in action.

Gaining a decent vantage point, I was able to observe them in action. They ride with very much an American style crouch in the early part of the race and probably with a much tighter hold on a horse’s mouth than the Western European style. Once they ask their mounts to lengthen, they get very low and are much more streamlined in the finish of a race. There are definite advantages to this style of riding but one would ponder how effective it would be around an undulating track like Downpatrick.

The racing industry plays second fiddle to trotting and the television screens around the racecourse showed plenty of trotting action on the day as well as some from Britain. The horses were a mixed bag of ex-Irish, English and homebreds. Breeders have imported some decent stallions and the former Ballydoyle inmates Academy Award and Mingun would rank highly in the sires’ championship.

Jump racing takes place in Norway and just as with Sweden, they use Easyfix hurdles, however they have around 10 jumps races each year and enthusiasm for the winter sport is beginning to wane as the animal rights groups gradually try to phase it out.

Their presence is felt heavily at Ovrevoll and they are not only very active on the race day but in the mornings also as they supervise the horses being exercised in the mornings.

There were eight races on the card with some decent prize money on offer. There was a sprint race over six furlongs which was the only race on the card that was part of the pattern system and carried a listed status.

The Norsk 1000 Guineas was also staged on the day and was backed by Tattersalls. For a classic race day, the racecourse resembled a ghost town, the officials somehow decided to escort myself and a fellow rider from an enclosure from which we were forbidden to enter. Our presence there would have at least boosted the attendance figures!

LOOKING FORWARD

The next race in the series is on August 1st in Deauville, and I am very much looking forward to going.

Susan Leahy has done a trojan amount of work in getting the French authorities to bend the rules to allow me to compete. The French, as many a stewards’ inquiry will testify to, stick rigidly to their rules, but for once they have shown some tolerence.

After all of Susan’s hard labour, I’m now faced with a battle of my own as in order for me to take the mount the scales will have to register on the wrong side of 10st.