Part 1 of the AGA title goes to Yorkshire and the AGA cooker goes to the South Midland

AGA final exceeds all expectations with a thrilling finish as the lady riders take centre stage at the home of jump racing!

Words by yours truly, with the mood of the evening captured via a series of marvellous photographs taken by our very own John "Beazo" Beasley, and Jackie Oliver - with a few from me thrown in for good measure! 

AGA Pointing arrive early for the big day
Was I looking forward to this evening? The answer to that question is a resounding yes! After five months of hard graft the big day had arrived and I had three things on my wish list:


1 - All of our guests would have a night to remember
2 - The lady riders would savour every moment
3 - Our series would end on a high  


Arriving early was always going to be the plan so myself and Mrs S met up with Derek just after 1.30 with the car and van packed full of goodies for the AGA room. Driving straight in through the gates we parked up by the grandstand and took everything up to National Hunt Room 1 (our home for the evening). Well, that's what should have happened but we locked the vehicles and headed straight for the parade ring!

Beazo, Derek and Mrs S stride across the hallowed turf - 
before changing into their race day outfits

This was too good an opportunity to miss and having spotted the flowing locks of Beazo in the distance we hailed him and he joined us to take in the atmosphere. This was a day off for Derek and for the first time this season he did not have to erect the AGA branding, however, he was still casting a critical eye over the efforts of the RTA team! As we strode around the parade ring Derek was convinced that he had found the exact spot where Big Bucks had walked and he also reeled off the names of some of the greats who had graced this hallowed turf.

Looking good - the winners podium with lots of strategically placed AGA banners!

It wasn't long before we were joined by another of the AGA Pointing boys, Chris, and some of our marketing colleagues, so we dragged ourselves away from the parade ring to empty the vehicles and remove them from the course. The next task was to set the room up, then replace our AGA "I'm In Total Control" polo shirts with some more suitable race day attire and wait for our guests to arrive.

Guests arrive
Guests were greeted upon arrival in the room by a huge montage of images from the season, it was visually very impressive and and several people asked if they could take it away with them! We had also produced a high quality souvenir programme for our guests - "the season in words and pictures", and if anybody didn't get one, or would like an extra copy then please call me. This proved to be very popular and contained a review of the season by yours truly, some rider profiles, a mark your card section from Derek and a montage of images from the season.

AGA Directors Jon Carling and Paul Dermody with Jane Lodge

AGA Director Paul Jackson (left), and wife Elaine flank a fellow guest

Julie Guichaoua (centre) and Kathryn Lowe (right)

Charlie Whitehead (left) and Maureen Williams (centre)

William welcomes a guest

Welcome to Cheltenham - let the entertainment begin
Our guests were given a joint welcome to Cheltenham, first by AGA Rangemaster CEO William McGrath, and then by Cheltenham Chairman Robert Waley-Cohen. Beazo then took the microphone and invited six of the AGA lady riders to the stage - Jane Williams, Claire Hart, Sam Drake, Jo Mason, Charlotte Prichard and Jacqueline Coward, who all gave him the low-down on how they thought the race was going to pan out.

Note the strategically placed AGA Cook Shop display

The girls wait to join Beazo on the stage - not sure what
Sam Drake is thinking

"Is Billyvoddan going to come up that hill as fast as he did last year?" - we would soon find out!

We had a slight microphone malfunction but that aside the girls were fantastic and as they dashed off to change for the big race we had a 10 minute break while our guests watched the second race. Carl Evans (Racing Post, Racing Post Weekender and Point-to-Point expert) then bounded on to the stage to "mark the card" for the AGA race plus the remaining races, and although his AGA tip ran below par he did produce 2 other winning tips at decent prices.

Carl with strategically placed Racing Post, and William

Pre-race in the parade ring
The parade ring was calling again and we headed down to take a look at the runners and meet the connections before the big race of the evening - the AGA Ladies Open Point-to-Point Championship Final. 

Mrs S (looking rather serious but glamorous) takes it all in

Peter McNeill and myself were deep in conversation until I spotted a camera - not for the first time this season!

Peter, William and John ... and me looking for the person with the camera!

This season at Point-to-Point meetings all over the UK myself and Mrs S have had the opportunity to meet and chat with owners and trainers in the paddock pre-race (plus we have also been handing out lovely AGA vouchers). However, there just wasn't the time today and I only managed to get to the Coward's, Mason's and Rowley's/Minton's before the horses were on their way out of the parade ring and heading down to the start! This was our cue to head to the Royal Box to watch the race ... part 2 to follow.