Congratulations Gina Andrews and Pam Sly on a great win at Wetherby today with ACTINPIECES!
23-11-2016
Many congratulations to Gina Andrews and trainer Pam Sly on a great win today at Wetherby with ACTINPIECES.
Greg Wood from The Guardian wrote the following piece following the race:
A racehorse whose trainer claims she refuses to be ridden by a man, won a novice chase at Wetherby on Wednesday. Actinpieces, ridden by her regular jockey, 24-year-old Gina Andrews, was successful in the Racing UK Novice Chase at the Yorkshire track at odds of 3-1.
The Peterborough-based trainer Pam Sly, who famously won the 1,000 Guineas in 2006 with Speciosa, told CNN: “[Actinpieces] is not too keen on men. I’ve never had a horse who’s been like this before. The mare, who won three novice hurdles last season before switching to fences, is Andrews’ mount, or her sister Bridget’s when she is unavailable. When their brother Jack, 18, tried to get on board, Sly reports that Actinpieces was having none of it. “She tried to buck him off as soon as he got on,” Sly said.
“When he went to get on her she tried to bite him,” said Andrews. “It’s quite funny because she doesn’t normally do it when I get on. She’s only had women riders. If a man went up to her in the yard she’ll put her ears back. It’s a bit weird.”
“The boys didn’t want to ride Actinpieces [from the start of her career],” Sly explained. “They said she was lethal. She wasn’t very easy to break in. Gina has been riding for me since she was 16 and I asked her if she wanted to ride her and she said: ‘Course I will.’”
“I ride her at home and do some schooling with her as well as racing,” Andrews added. “I’ve got to know her and it tends to work better. Different riders get on with some horses better than others but it depends on the way you ride and adapt to the horse.
“I enjoy riding her. I’m not a professional jockey so I don’t ride that much. Pam has been very loyal to me and not taken me off her which she could quite easily have when she realised [Actinpieces] was quite good.”