By Robert Bracher

At Larkhill last month Charlie Sprake based at North Barrow near Ilchester trained his first ever point to point winner. An experienced rider with 29 point to point winners and a Hunter Chase winner to his name to date, he and his partner Winnie Ortewell have started a training yard at the Ortewell family farm.

His first winner came from Gelino Bello who was a previous grade 1 winning hurdler for Paul Nicholls at Aintree in 2022 and 2 novice chases but he had lost his way and had been pulled up on his last three outings. He was then given to Ella Ortewell, Winnie’s older sister, and put into training with Charlie.  He explained  that ‘I have four horses to train including this boy for a group of family friends called the Sloe Gin Syndicate’ When quizzed how he had brought about the return to form he said with a smile ‘We have just tried to sweeten him up with a different routine and I wanted to see whether he still had it in him to be competitive’. Given a very positive ride by Darren Andrews, Charlie was quick to acknowledge the help and support he received from him when he was riding and he was delighted to have Darren riding for him.

Charlie has decided not to ride this season but has not ruled out a return to the saddle in the future. In the meantime Gelino Bello has been enthused by a change of stable and a different way of being trained.