Not the busiest Plumpton Sunday crowd, presumably due to the early start, 12.20, and not the weather, which was decidedly mild for the time of year. A planned rant against trying to keep people distant from the racing was on the cards, but in fact the gate leading to the area down by the last hurdle was not locked, just secured by an over-complicated latch. And even then, it seems that I was the only person confused enough to resort to climbing through the plastic rails, so the least said about that, the better.

Going: Good to Soft (predicted to be soft in advance, but did not look to be as testing as other days when it has been good to soft)

Race 1: toteplacepot Juvenile Maiden Hurdle [2m]

1: Serhaaphim     2: Souriceau     3: Simba Sun

Winner owned: Richard S Keeley, trained: Neil King, ridden: Owyn Nelmes

This appeared to be a fairly run of the mill race, in which Souriceau failed to land the prize on the back of a promising debut in a reasonable race at Sandown. As the winner and third had never jumped a hurdle in public before, and the fourth has been runner-up in both tries (on good to firm), time might show that he had bitten off more than he could chew, which would not have been expected for a race of this nature here.

Souriceau (7) and Serhaaphim (11) show mixed enjoyment of the very last flight, whilst Stagehand (pale) and Simba Sun (purple) sort out the minor placings.

Race 2: totecourse to course Novice Hurdle [2m]

1: Marsam     2: Jardin De Vienne     3: Otage De Brion

Winner owned: L Mulryan & MC Fahy, trained: Mick Quinlan, ridden: Jodie Mogford

Marsam starts out in a case study of going too fast around Plumpton...

After Otage De Brion won impressively here in the spring, the only one of the five immediately chasing him home not to have won has the perfectly valid excuse of not actually making another appearance. So despite the break, and he has been declared previously only to be a non-runner, the only enemy fighting further success would be the easier ground. Perhaps. In fact, Marsam set off miles in front, and whilst the ground might not have helped, Otage De Brion could not reel him back, and even lost out for second. Marsam did have an impressive third of sixteen to his name from Fairyhouse, but after that he had been fairly regressive in his exploration of the form alphabet, and also posted three poor flat runs since joining his current yard. Given the frenetic pace at which he set off, the determination to cling on at the end was fairly creditable. The first three were a healthy way clear of the rest.

...only for the last flight to arrive and Otage De Brion (1) and Jardin De Vienne (5) find that the plucky Irish bred had completely tricked the two thoughful French breds and would hang on for the win

Race 3: totesport.com Novice Chase [2m 4f]

1: Roll Along     2: Monzon

Winner owned: Bryan & Philippa Burrough, trained: Carl Llewellyn, ridden: Paul Moloney

It was a sad beginning to this race, as Mr President collapsed at the start, for no obvious reason. This reduced the field to five, of which three, it would be presumed, would see their trainer having half a mind on the bonus for winning one of a few specified novice races here and then a chase at the Cheltenham Festival. After 22 months off, Dear Villez was not looking in any trouble when he stumbled on landing after clearing the tenth safely (we all thought) and unseated his rider, whilst Kawagino fell completely independently at the same obstacle. This gave Roll Along a fairly easy time of it, despite some persistent harassment from his remaining rival, who was determined to ruin his handicap mark. Roll Along's jumping was sound on what is a tricky course for novices, but very little was actually proven by the result.

Race 4: totepool Novice Hurdle [2m 5f]

1: Gansey     2: Noble Ben     3: Teamgeist

Winner owned: Trevor Hemmings, trained: Paul Nicholls, ridden: Christian Williams

In advance, this looked to be a really decent novice for the track, but the defection of heavy ground bumper winner Galoshes (obviously not wet enough) and Aimigayle (not windy enough?) thinned the ranks of the most promising a little. Odds-on for Gansey appeared a short enough price, but after struggling to overhaul the runner-up turning for home, he seemed to get a second wind once hitting the front and on passing the line, there looked to be plenty more to offer. Three miles looks to be on the cards for him in the future. The Speaker, who was having the legendary third run, has already been tried over more than three miles, and in this he ensured a decent pace before dropping away. The next step is...(fill in your own guess).

The non-blurriness of this photo shows that they were going a modest enough pace to fit an even more modestly skilled photographer. From first to last they are: Willow Hall, The Speaker, Orfeo Conti, Teamgeist (red cap, in the air), Gansey (whitecap, in the air), Red Rattle (green, mostly hidden), Noble Ben (blue, mostly hidden), Strong Coffee (orange, with noseband), Wheres Johnny (the grey) and Shortgate Lane (brown)

Race 5: totesport 0800 221 221 Novice Handicap Chase [3m 2f]

1: Fine By Me     2: Topless    3: Carroll's O'Tully

Winner owned: Mrs JA Benson & Miss SN Benson, trained: Julian Smith, ridden: Paul Moloney

The novices were again thinned out by the fence at the top of the hill, with paddock pick Harrival hitting it hard as a precursor to unseating shortly after, Garston Star falling a lap later, and Ortega after another circuit, contributing to the departure of struggling Minster Abbi. After leader Carroll's O'Tully (once famous for not winning, now just for the rarity of having two apostrophes in her name) set her usual good pace out front, Topless led briefly, and then made a real fight of it with Fine By Me, before going down by a length.

Fine By Me just gets the verdict on Topless

Race 6: tote exacta Novice Handicap Hurdle [3m 1.5f]

1: Dundridge Native     2: Big John Macarty     3: Cleymor House

Winner owned: Mr C Sullivan, trained: Jim Best, ridden: Robert Lucey-Butler

As a finish, this was no spectacle, with Dundridge Native, debuting for a new yard, winning very, very easily and the runner-up being miles clear of the others, amongst whom Lady Roisin and Pedlers Bridge both made late moves from the back only to find the uphill finish at the end of three and a quarter miles too much. The real incident took place earlier, as after one lap, pace setter Break The Ice decided enough was enough and ran out towards the racecourse stables. One circuit later It's A Pleasure took great inspiration from this, and although unable to unship his rider, the damage was done as far as results were concerned. To have two horses effectively run out in one ordinary race is a rare treat for connoisseurs of the bonkers.

Race 7: totesportgames.com Handicap Hurdle [2m]

1: Silver Prophet     2: Lit Et Mixe     3: Forfeiter

Winner owned: Mrs Jean O'Connor, trained: Martin Bosley, ridden: Kevin Tobin

A 25/1 winner closed the show, the price being due to the horse not having run for nineteen months and his yard being someway up the cold trainers list. However, his last three runs before the time off had seen Silver Prophet beaten 4.5 lengths, 14 lengths and 5 lengths in much higher class races, including Newbury and Haydock, so he must have been weeing himself in merriment when realising how much lower tier this race was. Fortunately the hilarity gave way to effort, and although there was barely six lengths between the first half dozen home, he held on. Lit Et Mixe (another to have run well at Newbury) was almost upside at the last, but as tiredness set in he started to drift left on the run in, probably losing less than he was beaten by. After a failed chase debut, Forfeiter also ran well, defying the thought that this may just be a confidence booster.

Plus points

Serhaaphim (race 1): A winning debut, and as she handled soft on the flat and has a stocky, jumping friendly build, she could prove to be more suited to this discipline. 

Directa's Digger (race 1): Has done little of note, although his well beaten fourth to Dr McFab might prove to be OK, and had a quite amble round at the back and popped the last not looking overly out of puff, which by an amazing coincidence was his third run. He handled soft ground on the flat in Germany.

Jardin De Vienne (race 2): Quadruple French flat winner, gradually progressing over hurdles, although on soft ground an easy two miles might be his limit.

Noble Ben (race 4): Still has not won, but posted a much sounder effort than his less than convincing earlier tries over hurdles. Progressing.

Where's Johnny (race 4): Looked a real slowcoach, but game enough, in two bumpers, and seemed to enjoy the longer trip and obstacles. Apparently done for on the far side, he and Teamgeist came home strongly, but too late for glory.

Fine By Me (race 5): Responded positively to the step up to 3m last time, and saw it out well again, jumping safely all the way.

Topless (race 5): A perfectly adequate chase debut under the top weight for an out of form stable, and without the usual tongue strap. And a challenge as to how far a commentator will go with boob jokes - Simon Holt, in the style of Sergei Bubka, set the bar very low to start with today, in order to see the record broken many times in the future.

Silver Prophet (race 7): If he stays sound, he could well improve for the run by more than his rating is raised. Inmate, beaten three lengths in fourth, was nine pounds out of the handicap and is fairly well exposed, so there is no reason for the handicapper to go mad.

Down arrows

Otage De Brion (race 2): Made the effort to chase Marsam from a long way out, but was not nearly as impressive as in his previous course and distance win. From four races, he has only once looked like the 120 rated horse that the handicapper currently has him.

Kawagino (race 3): Was not prolific as a hurdler, and has not really taken to fences - a handicap mark difference of 37lbs between the two disciplines looks a fair reflection of what he has achieved.

Orfeo Conti (race 4): Won a chase in the French provinces and was 22 lengths behind a 128-rated winner on his UK debut. He had every chance on the railway bend, then faded out of it a bit tamely. Perhaps shorter and/or faster will help, but it looked a bit feeble.

Big John Macarty (race 6): Up to now seemed more at home on fast ground, but this was his fourth time as runner-up and even at extreme trips just comes across as too one-paced for anything other than Placepot stardom.

UK-Jumping Selections

Teamgeist (race 4): Looked as if he had had his chips on the far side, but kept plugging away, and was closing at the finish. The performance of a three mile mudlark?

Garston Star (race 5): Fell early on, which was a disappointing outcome as his jumping had been OK to date. His galloping between the fences could, however, have been questioned...