chaumi
Rookie
Stratford 29th May sounds like a good target to me.
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New Point To Point Forum
- Thread starter Gullible
- Start date
trudij
Senior Jockey
Thought he’d already retired 
The hunter chase evening up there is lovely lads, almost as nice as Cheltenham’s ( and definitely warmer!) you’ll have a great time
The hunter chase evening up there is lovely lads, almost as nice as Cheltenham’s ( and definitely warmer!) you’ll have a great time
Here is an interview that Jinnyj did with Will Biddick a couple of years ago and very interesting that she puts No Drama This End as a young horse to follow and Rian Corcoran as a young jockey to follow !!
Much hasbeen written about the riding exploits of Will Biddick the mostsuccessful jockey in Point to Point history. Eight time ChampionMen’s Point to Point rider with a current tally of 576 winnerspointing and a further 38 in Hunter Chases; a dream win over theAintree fences on Famous Clermont to take last season’s Foxhuntersand back to back wins of the Punchestown Champion Hunter Chase onCaid du Berlais for Rose Loxton but it is his 2021 training feat inthe Cheltenham Festival version with the fragile Porlock Bay thatclearly means most to the multi-talented Cornishman. And now histraining career is proving that he is every bit as astute in thissphere too having saddled just 10 runners this season resulting in animpressive 8 winners, a purple patch that is bordering on WillieMullins territory!
The sonof a farmer, his first winner as a young 17 year old jockey was atAxe Vale on Let’s Fly trained by Ross Oliver. He happily admitsthat he didn’t exactly excel at school and was always destined fora career with horses. Moving to Venetia Williams, he lodged withfellow riders, Sam Thomas and the late Liam Treadwell, and explained,“they took me under their wing and taught me so much. It was likeme being a young horse schooling with older ones, I couldn’t helpbut improve.” After riding a lot as a claiming amateur and thenturning professional for a while, he still returned to his familyfarm in Cornwall to help his father every summer. It was during thesesummers that he grafted on the farm and also learnt to break inhorses, a skill that he is highly respected for with several trainersincluding Champion trainer Paul Nicholls.
Combiningthe breaking and pre-training business alongside his now burgeoningtraining enterprise, Will received a call from owner, John Studd, whowished to move one of his horses back from a successful career inFrance. The talented but fragile Porlock Bay was to provide afairy-tale occasion for both owner and trainer. An early success ina point was followed by a surprise defeat by Sametegal in a HunterChase at Wincanton. Several experts were heard to remark that a goodrun in the Cheltenham Foxhunters was now out of the question thehorse having patently failed to stay on the soft surface at theSomerset course. Will however had other thoughts and explained, “Dueto the BHA rules during Covid, amateurs were unable to ride and so Iemployed Lorcan Williams to ride the horse on this occasion as I feltout of any of the professional jockeys, he rode most like me. In therace though, Lorcan admitted that he had a moment when he decided totake a pull in the race, as he felt that’s what I would have done,and it was probably at the wrong moment!” Undeterred Will thoughtas long as the horse saw the race out, he’d win. At Cheltenham ina nail-biting finish and the closest of the entire meeting, Lorcanand Porlock Bay did indeed see the race out prevailing by ashort-head in front of the eerily quiet stands. Will credits thatwin with being a turning point in his training career and certainlythe biggest thrill so far. His gratitude to John Studd is immense andindeed reciprocated as following the retirement of Porlock Bay, Johnimmediately had a worthy successor in the shape of Macklin.
Followingthe success at the Festival, Will was contacted by Rupert Swallowkeen to buy horses to syndicate. Although going rather over budget atthe sales, Rupert struck gold purchasing two, both under the newlyformed Pendil Partnership aimed at younger racegoers at a veryaffordable yearly cost. The first, Il Pino initially won atChaddesley Corbett under the care of Will before being sent to PaulNicholls where he has won again over hurdles at Wincanton. His otherpurchase was the mare Regatta de Blanc who he has kept with Will. Sheimpressed last season winning twice at Larkhill but this season hasshown considerable improvement to win not only the Coronation Cup ina dead heat but also a competitive Hunter Chase at Taunton to remainunbeaten for her large and enthusiastic group of owners. Macklin toohas shown improvement this year winning first at Milborne St Andreweasily brushing aside the well-fancied Highway Jewel before alsotaking a decent Hunter Chase at Taunton last week much to the delightof his owner.
Much ofthis recent success could be down to a change of yards when Will tookthe opportunity to re-locate to a new base at Queen Camel courtesy offather-in-law, Rupert Nuttall. Set right in the heart of Blackmoreand Sparkford Vale country, a large airy barn houses both those intraining and the youngsters in for breaking and pre-training. Afterputting in a round sand gallop (and with further plans to put in a 4furlong gallop), Will realised that his horses would need toacclimatise to using flatter ground and with this in mind resistedtraining them up the steep hills at Ditcheat before the move wascompleted. His close relationship with Paul Nicholls too isparamount and has had the biggest influence on his training methodsexplaining he still regularly goes to Paul for advice and support.
This season the results have been spectacular with (at the time ofwriting) only two of his horses not winning and these have includedtwo Hunter chases and a Coronation Cup as well as several niceyoungsters including No Drama This End who won by an impressive 23lengths at Badbury Rings this month. He was fulsome in his praise forhis staff that includes the multi-tasking, Millie Orttewell who hasbeen with him for five years employed as secretary/box-driver/nanny,Head Girl Georgie Lock, Sarah Gould, Alice Stevens and Jodie Bennett.In addition he has three Novice Riders, Fred Philipson-Stow, RianCorcoran and Alex Ingram who all get coaching from former jockeyRoddi Greene on a weekly basis. Will explained “I like to giveyoung riders a chance and get a lot of satisfaction from watchingthem improve although they have to work hard to get the rides. But Iget a lot of satisfaction in seeing the progression of both the youngriders and the young horses.”
Marriedto International show-jumper Harriet, they have two sons, Archie andOliver and while Will is still riding at the very top of his game, healso has his eye on the future and is keen to invest in more younghorses to bring on for sale. A full National Hunt licence howeverhas been ruled out with Will saying “Pointing has been so good tome and I would rather give back to the sport and while my job is toget winners, I prefer to run horses locally rather than travellingall over the country and so I spend time to pick the races andcourses which will most suit the horses. In fact I often find I amcrossing the line on one and already planning where I will run itnext as I pull up.”
Duringlockdown Will was asked what his ambition was to which he replied“have Porlock Bay win the Cheltenham Foxhunters!” With thatfirmly cemented on his CV, it is apparent that any goals are there tobe achieved and whilst on a numbers game he may not be challengingyet for the title of Champion trainer to go alongside the many awardshe has won as a rider, this is a trainer who is looking to thefuture. With both the horses and young riders that he is bringing tothe game and educating, this future as a trainer, looks to be everybit as exciting as his riding career if recent results are anythingto go by.
The sonof a farmer, his first winner as a young 17 year old jockey was atAxe Vale on Let’s Fly trained by Ross Oliver. He happily admitsthat he didn’t exactly excel at school and was always destined fora career with horses. Moving to Venetia Williams, he lodged withfellow riders, Sam Thomas and the late Liam Treadwell, and explained,“they took me under their wing and taught me so much. It was likeme being a young horse schooling with older ones, I couldn’t helpbut improve.” After riding a lot as a claiming amateur and thenturning professional for a while, he still returned to his familyfarm in Cornwall to help his father every summer. It was during thesesummers that he grafted on the farm and also learnt to break inhorses, a skill that he is highly respected for with several trainersincluding Champion trainer Paul Nicholls.
Combiningthe breaking and pre-training business alongside his now burgeoningtraining enterprise, Will received a call from owner, John Studd, whowished to move one of his horses back from a successful career inFrance. The talented but fragile Porlock Bay was to provide afairy-tale occasion for both owner and trainer. An early success ina point was followed by a surprise defeat by Sametegal in a HunterChase at Wincanton. Several experts were heard to remark that a goodrun in the Cheltenham Foxhunters was now out of the question thehorse having patently failed to stay on the soft surface at theSomerset course. Will however had other thoughts and explained, “Dueto the BHA rules during Covid, amateurs were unable to ride and so Iemployed Lorcan Williams to ride the horse on this occasion as I feltout of any of the professional jockeys, he rode most like me. In therace though, Lorcan admitted that he had a moment when he decided totake a pull in the race, as he felt that’s what I would have done,and it was probably at the wrong moment!” Undeterred Will thoughtas long as the horse saw the race out, he’d win. At Cheltenham ina nail-biting finish and the closest of the entire meeting, Lorcanand Porlock Bay did indeed see the race out prevailing by ashort-head in front of the eerily quiet stands. Will credits thatwin with being a turning point in his training career and certainlythe biggest thrill so far. His gratitude to John Studd is immense andindeed reciprocated as following the retirement of Porlock Bay, Johnimmediately had a worthy successor in the shape of Macklin.
Followingthe success at the Festival, Will was contacted by Rupert Swallowkeen to buy horses to syndicate. Although going rather over budget atthe sales, Rupert struck gold purchasing two, both under the newlyformed Pendil Partnership aimed at younger racegoers at a veryaffordable yearly cost. The first, Il Pino initially won atChaddesley Corbett under the care of Will before being sent to PaulNicholls where he has won again over hurdles at Wincanton. His otherpurchase was the mare Regatta de Blanc who he has kept with Will. Sheimpressed last season winning twice at Larkhill but this season hasshown considerable improvement to win not only the Coronation Cup ina dead heat but also a competitive Hunter Chase at Taunton to remainunbeaten for her large and enthusiastic group of owners. Macklin toohas shown improvement this year winning first at Milborne St Andreweasily brushing aside the well-fancied Highway Jewel before alsotaking a decent Hunter Chase at Taunton last week much to the delightof his owner.
Much ofthis recent success could be down to a change of yards when Will tookthe opportunity to re-locate to a new base at Queen Camel courtesy offather-in-law, Rupert Nuttall. Set right in the heart of Blackmoreand Sparkford Vale country, a large airy barn houses both those intraining and the youngsters in for breaking and pre-training. Afterputting in a round sand gallop (and with further plans to put in a 4furlong gallop), Will realised that his horses would need toacclimatise to using flatter ground and with this in mind resistedtraining them up the steep hills at Ditcheat before the move wascompleted. His close relationship with Paul Nicholls too isparamount and has had the biggest influence on his training methodsexplaining he still regularly goes to Paul for advice and support.
This season the results have been spectacular with (at the time ofwriting) only two of his horses not winning and these have includedtwo Hunter chases and a Coronation Cup as well as several niceyoungsters including No Drama This End who won by an impressive 23lengths at Badbury Rings this month. He was fulsome in his praise forhis staff that includes the multi-tasking, Millie Orttewell who hasbeen with him for five years employed as secretary/box-driver/nanny,Head Girl Georgie Lock, Sarah Gould, Alice Stevens and Jodie Bennett.In addition he has three Novice Riders, Fred Philipson-Stow, RianCorcoran and Alex Ingram who all get coaching from former jockeyRoddi Greene on a weekly basis. Will explained “I like to giveyoung riders a chance and get a lot of satisfaction from watchingthem improve although they have to work hard to get the rides. But Iget a lot of satisfaction in seeing the progression of both the youngriders and the young horses.”
Marriedto International show-jumper Harriet, they have two sons, Archie andOliver and while Will is still riding at the very top of his game, healso has his eye on the future and is keen to invest in more younghorses to bring on for sale. A full National Hunt licence howeverhas been ruled out with Will saying “Pointing has been so good tome and I would rather give back to the sport and while my job is toget winners, I prefer to run horses locally rather than travellingall over the country and so I spend time to pick the races andcourses which will most suit the horses. In fact I often find I amcrossing the line on one and already planning where I will run itnext as I pull up.”
Duringlockdown Will was asked what his ambition was to which he replied“have Porlock Bay win the Cheltenham Foxhunters!” With thatfirmly cemented on his CV, it is apparent that any goals are there tobe achieved and whilst on a numbers game he may not be challengingyet for the title of Champion trainer to go alongside the many awardshe has won as a rider, this is a trainer who is looking to thefuture. With both the horses and young riders that he is bringing tothe game and educating, this future as a trainer, looks to be everybit as exciting as his riding career if recent results are anythingto go by.
Danny
Senior Jockey
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2013
- Messages
- 2,507
Barring disasters I'm definitely there for this. But probably wont be making any meets before that.
Okay Danny but do not forget that you are in the Pointing Pointers Hunterchase competion with £300 worth of free bets to be won
any one else wishing to join can do so here https://www.pointingpointers.co.uk/group/25-26-all-things-point-to-point/discussionTwo of last years prize winners managed to turn their prizes into nice winning bets at Chaddesley yesterday
Yes Jinnyj but in the competition on Pointing Pointers you are up against "THE BIG BOYS"A competition that I am COMPLETELY hopeless in! Well compared to how I do on this forum......
Okay so I can't stay at yours the next time I am down that way
trudij
Senior Jockey
Yeah, I’m not sure where I got that from but I definitely thought he retired at the end of last season. Shows how much notice I take these days
