It was heart-warming to see that 18 teams were entered in the Goring Hotel Open Event and that several of these teams were made up of young riders, spurred on no doubt, by the recent successes of the Fosse Manor Again team. The future of this great sport will rely on young teams coming up through the ranks and we can hope that the enthusiasm shown by the Fosse Manor, The Not Quite McCoys etc., will be infectious.

There were two sections of the Open course which were to prove influential on the final result, the first of these were the extremely tight turns between fences four and eleven which needed accurate riding and the dressing fence at 18, where twelve horses feet had to have touched down between the flags before the first horse could jump out over the post and rails with a drop.

The Rappell Hairraisers were first to go and led as usual by Paul Thomason set a good target to aim at, they managed all the tight turns at the beginning but unfortunately were a bit spread out going into the dressing fence, Mike Elvin had to summon all his strength to slow his horse down for Allan Brown to catch up in order not to incur penalties. They finished in a time of 3.55 mins which put them in eventual 5th place.

The Trifast Allstars led this week for most of the way by Jo Jewell ably backed up by Rowan Cope who is thoroughly enjoying his first season team chasing also had to wait before the dressing fence for Joss Hanbury to catch up, however they were just that bit faster over the latter part of the course than the Hair Raisers and finished in a time of 3.52 to put them in the lead at this stage.

Next to go were the home team The Bitch Pack consisting of Rosie and Nina Vestey, Jane Edmunds and Sophie Rooker, they put in an very neat round and but for a couple of mistakes towards the end they would have been right up with the leaders.

The Morpeth Muddlers team who had travelled down from the north, a journey which had taken them over 6 hours were next on the starting line. Led off by Simon Vickers whose horse was really flying despite a lot of tail swishing were going well until the second of the tight turns when Simon very nearly parted company, however they sorted themselves out and with Norman Foley, Kelli Jefferson and Rachel Corbin were the first team to get the dressing fence absolutely right.

The Fosse Manor Again team consisting of Tom Gittins, Peter Mason, Ben Pauling and Ed Walker were next to go and Steve Gittins, in the commentary box with Chris Leigh, sounded extremely proud of his son Tom as he led the boys off, he was setting a cracking pace until he overshot the tight turn at fence 6 when Ed Walker took over the lead, they paced themselves perfectly and jumped the dressing fence absolutely spot on, these young lads are riding with great maturity and saved just enough to get up the final energy sapping hill to finish in an excellent time of 3.50 mins.

It was good to see the next team up from the south of England, The Malt Mix Double Troubles have had horse problems of late and have not been able to compete in many team chases, however they were back on form at the Cotswold and led off by Virginia Cronk with Dominique Green, Stella Cronk and Di Robertson they looked to be having a flyer, Virginia again nearly coming to grief at the first of the tight turns managed to stay in the plate and by the time they got to the dressing fence all four were line abreast and all twelve feet were in the air together, they again seemed to lose time over the second part of the course and finished in a time of 3.53 giving them a well deserved fourth place and qualification for the Championship.

The excitement was mounting as the Boring Gorings, who had won on their previous outing, came to the start, however it seemed that 3 Seasons was not going too well for Fred French and when George fell at fence eleven their challenge was over, as George said at the presentation one week in team chasing you are euphoric the next week you are lying in the mud!!

Thoroughly Bred were next to go and led as always by Sharon Brooke on Sam they made the tight turns look easy and were by far the quickest to the dressing fence, this was one of the best rounds they have had for a long time it was a pity they ran out of steam over the second part of the course as none of their horses are blood horses, however, they finished in a time of 3.57 giving them a creditable 6th place.

The other young team Not Quite the McCoys consisting of Peter Mason, George Phillips, James Horton and Freddie de Giles, set out at a modest pace, but were obviously really enjoying the challenge of the Open track. Once again the Mill Farm Allsorts gave good account of themselves, led by Alan George this is another team that has come up from the Intermediate and are showing good form.

The second home team The Mixed Pack, with Rosie Vestey, Sophie Rooker, Sarah Stafford and Fiona Russell Brown had a super round but were unable to trouble the leaders. There were now only three teams to go J & M Turners Hoof Hearted led by Nick Deacon, with Polly Gundry, Richard Hawker and Amanda Maller looked set to be a challenge to the Fosee Manor but after losing Amanda Maller they seemed to run out of steam.

The Marston Misfits had Sharon Robbins and Min du Luart battling it out at the front with Robin May and Jo Mannicom who had stepped in to the team to replace Richard Goring after his hunting accident the day before, after Sharon had overshot one of the tight turns and Min's horse almost came down on another turn their challenge was over.

Richard is currently flat on his back in a Sussex Hospital and on behalf of team chasers everywhere I will take this opportunity to wish him a very speedy recovery, we certainly missed you today Richard.

And finally, yes it was the Forge Flyers, the team that has proved so far invincible this season. Could they make it six wins in a row, the Fosse Manor lads were all biting their nails as they watched Debbie Topping set off on the great Junior, once again they showed us what team chasing is all about, cutting all the corners, and really riding as a team, even after they lost Graham Smith at the Stroud Saddlery Feeder, they still managed to get the dressing fence absolutely spot on and galloped on to make it six out of six this Autumn. Graham has unfortunately broken his collar bone, but knowing what a tuff old soul he is he will be back in the saddle in no time!

The Novice speed class in the morning had yielded yet another win for the Teme Valley Tigers, the team first got together to compete in the inter-hunt class at the Fernie and immediately got hooked, they are certainly proving to be the team to beat, second place went to the Gophers and third to the Local Yokels.

The Novice bogey class was won by the Bentley Bushwackers and with over thirty pairs forward in the Pairs Hunter trials, thirty teams in the bogey time class and twenty four teams in the novice speed a very successful day was had by all.

Roll on the Spring

Netty Nevill