Plumpton held a six race card on Monday afternoon and the meeting was dominated by our local trainers Anna Newton-Smith and Gary Moore who between them shared four of the winners.

The two winners that were sent out by Anna provided a tasty 44/1 double for her followers and the victory of her Portrait Royale was especially satisfying for the Jevington trainer.

Anna explained “She had a foot injury which has kept her off of the track for three months. Sally who rides her out regularly at home has been telling me she was really coming to herself. The conditions were ideal today, she loves the soft ground, and that was her second win in her last three starts.”

The race itself was full of incident with the joint favourite Newbay Bob falling at the third last. Pass Me A Dime and Its A Classic were duelling for the lead from the home bend with no quarter asked or given and Portrait Royale sitting a couple of lengths off of them in third.

At the second last Pass Me A Dime jumped slightly to his right and fell heavily bringing down his rival in the process.

Portrait Royale avoided the carnage and sauntered up the hill to record an ultimately easy success.

I asked Anna if she felt the mare would have won anyway.

“Harry (the jockey) said he was holding on to something and felt the other two were coming back to him. From his confidence it seems to me she would have won anyway.”

Another mare Pomander provided the second leg of the double as she belied her 14/1 odds to take the final race in effortless fashion.

It would appear on this performance that Pomander is progressing and she will attract a deal of attention on her next start.

It will be interesting to see how the handicapper reacts.

Gary Moore fired in a short price double with Action Impact in the opening novice hurdle and Lord Singer in the two mile handicap hurdle.

Both are progressive novices.

Gary commented “I was pleased with both. Lord Singer is very headstrong and will be much better when he learns to settle. He really wants a fence.”

Also Marc Goldstein, the son of former iron man of the saddle Ray Goldstein, gave course specialist Sumdancer a text book ride when recording a facile success in the two mile chase to give a Sussex connection to a fifth of the six winners on the day.

He had given the eight year old a similarly accomplished ride on their last outing but the extra half a mile that day found out the geldings stamina and the drop back in trip here suited him ideally.

Marc explained “The last time I wasn’t holding on to much just hoping The Hardy Boy would come back to me. The drop back in trip made the difference today.

He likes to bowl along, got in a nice rhythm and jumped well.”

The Cheltenham Festival is less than two weeks away and Marc is looking forward to a great ride there on Sheena West’s Tobago Bay in the conditional jockeys’ race.

Marc said “It’s worked out well with his handicap mark. Two mile five looks ideal and he is in great form. I can’t wait.”