Tag Archive for: Fiona Needham

Sine Nomine camp considering crack at Scottish National

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Sine Nomine could possibly take her chance in the Scottish Grand National after meeting with bad fortune in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham.

The nine-year-old won the St. James’s Place Hunters’ Chase at the 2024 Festival but she has been out of luck this season, failing to complete on each of her three outings.

She unseated in a Listed mares’ chase at Market Rasen on her seasonal reappearance after a 257-day break following that Festival success, before falling two out when staying on in the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby on Boxing Day.

Again fate dealt her a cruel blow at Cheltenham, where she was kicked at the start and subsequently slowly away, prior to being hampered late on and pulled up after jumping two out.

Undeterred, trainer Fiona Needham is considering a crack at Scottish National glory for her star mare.

Sine Nomine holds an entry at Stratford on Saturday but her participation there is very much dependent on the weather.

Reflecting on Cheltenham, Needham said: “She was unfortunately kicked at the start and then with the standing start, she missed the break, so it was maybe a day to forget.

“But she’s come back and she is fine. He pulled her up just before the last but she’s fine. It didn’t take a lot out of her.

“I’ve entered her (at Stratford) but it’ll depend on the ground. It will depend on what happens.

“I know they had a bit of rain over the weekend and there isn’t a lot of rain forecast, but there might be a bit towards the end of the week. I wouldn’t want it to be any quicker than what it is now, let’s put it that way.

“(Further plans) are going to depend on the weather and be ground related. We’ll put an entry in for the Scottish National but we’ll wait and see, we’re keeping our options open.”

Sine Nomine ‘in good heart’ ahead of Haydock spin

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Fiona Needham is hopeful for a change in fortunes for Sine Nomine ahead of her Haydock Grand National Trial bid.

The grey shone on the biggest stage of all when landing the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival last season, making her trainer one of the few to enjoy success in the race both in and out of the saddle after her victory as a jockey in 2002 aboard Last Option.

This season, the mare returned to action under rules to contest the Listed Bud Booth Chase at Market Rasen, but was out of luck when parting company with jockey John Dawson five fences from home.

A month later, she lined up for the Rowland Meyrick at Wetherby, this time under 5lb claimer James Turner, but again luck was not on her side as she stepped at the penultimate fence and took a tumble when looking to be staying on.

Sine Nomine crossing the line at Cheltenham
Sine Nomine crossing the line at Cheltenham (David Davies/PA)

A trip to Doncaster for the Great Yorkshire Chase was then scuppered by the drying ground, so Needham is hoping it will be fourth time lucky for the nine-year-old when she travels to Haydock for the Oddschecker Grand National Trial at the weekend.

“It’s been very frustrating really, but she’s in good heart. She schooled the other morning and went very well, so we have our fingers crossed,” Needham said.

“She seems in good form, it’s such a shame Doncaster dried out last time, but we’ll see.

“Everything seems to have gone wrong so far this season, whereas last season everything just went right!

“I’m looking at the forecast and it’s due to get cold again, but fingers crossed it’s not too cold and something finally goes in her favour.”

Sam Thomas’ Jubilee Express was the runner-up in the Welsh Grand National just after Christmas and now heads back to a track that has been lucky for him in the past.

Market Rasen Races – Wednesday March 29th
Jubilee Express (left) during his hurdling career (Tim Goode/PA)

He won a handicap over the same course and distance on soft ground towards the end of last season and connections will be hoping conditions are similarly testing come Saturday.

“That is the plan, but it’s maybe not going to be as soft as we like,” Thomas said of the race.

“He is a course and distance winner and it’s an ideal-looking race, we couldn’t be happier with him.

“There are some great races for these staying types, he’s got a real will to win and he’s the most genuine horse.

“Hopefully he can have a nice clear round and put his best foot forward, then he’ll come home near the front at the finish, fingers crossed.”

The Coral Welsh Grand National – Chepstow Racecourse – Friday December 27th
Val Dancer ridden by Charlie Hammond (right) on their way to winning the Welsh Grand National (David Davies/PA).

Jubilee Express is prominent in the market and the horse who beat him, Mel Rowley’s Val Dancer, is also entered to take his chance at Haydock.

Venetia Williams has two entrants in Royale Pagaille and Fontaine Collonges and so too do Jonjo and AJ O’Neill, who have put forward Fortunate Man and Iron Bridge.

The Irish contingent is headed by Gavin Cromwell’s Yeah Man, who could travel over alongside Gordon Elliott’s Where It All Began.

On the same card is the Grade Two WKD Rendlesham Hurdle, where Elliott has another possible raider in Beacon Edge.

Nicky Henderson’s Impose Toi is entered alongside two horses from Ruth Jefferson’s yard in Kerryhill and Sounds Russian.

Kerry Lee’s likeable Nemean Lion has his name on this list and so too does Donald McCain’s Maximilian, who has not run since spring 2023.

Newbury contest on Sine Nomine radar

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Fiona Needham reports Cheltenham Festival hunters’ chase heroine Sine Nomine none the worse for her fall at Wetherby on Boxing Day.

The nine-year-old was plugging on gamely and in with a chance of being placed behind Some Scope in the Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase when taking a tumble two out.

“She’s absolutely fine, she’s come out of it very bright and it’s just the weather that’s holding us up now a little bit,” said Needham.

“For such a good jumper, it was rather annoying, but when you look back, I think she made a similar mistake when she won her hunter chase there at Wetherby, but she was going much quicker in this race when she fell.

“So that’s quite significant, but she rolled straight over as soon as she hit the ground and has come out of it very well.”

Looking ahead to future plans, the North Yorkshire handler added: “Ironically, she wants soft ground but the current situation is a bit much.

“There’s a Listed mares’ chase at Newbury (January 15) which could be next, but we’ll see – we’re looking at various options.”

Having also unseated her rider when making a seasonal reappearance at Market Rasen in November, a return to hunter chasing was considered in order to seek a confidence-boosting clear round.

However, Needham said: “We’ve discussed that but I think she was doing enough to prove that she was good enough to be where she is, so I think we’re going to keep going down that route for now.”

Sine Nomine booked for Rowland Meyrick test

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Fiona Needham will send her Cheltenham Festival hero Sine Nomine to the William Hill Rowland Meyrick Handicap Chase at Wetherby before any further plans for the season ahead are made.

The eight-year-old is a regular on the point-to-point circuit and has won four of her six hunter chases, highlighted by landing the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase in March.

She stepped up to Listed company for the first time last month on her return after a 257-day break from that Cheltenham success at Market Rasen in the Bud Booth Mares’ Chase, but paid for a mistake five fences out and unseated John Dawson.

Needham will now see how the mare fares at the West Yorkshire track before plotting a route for the rest of the season.

“The plan is the Rowland Meyrick,” the trainer said.

“It was unfortunate (at Market Rasen). She was running well. I was pleased with how she was running. She wants softer ground and that’s why she wasn’t out until then.

“She was a little bit fresh and it was a bit of miscommunication shall we say.

“She should come on for the run. I would like to think I had her straighter than I normally do for her first point to point, but she’s still come out of it well and she will come on for the run. Hopefully we’ve just got a bit of the daftness out of her.

“I don’t know what the target is and we’ll see what happens at Wetherby. To go back to the St. James’s Place we’d have to pull out to go back hunter chasing.”

Needham will take her time before deciding to stay up in grade or return to the hunter chasing circuit.

She added: “We’ll see what happens Boxing Day and that was always the plan. We’ll see what happens and if we’re outclassed it’s nice that she’s still qualified for Cheltenham and Aintree (hunter chases) so we have that option.”

Wetter the better for Needham and Sine Nomine

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Fiona Needham is one trainer who hopes the rain keeps falling ahead of Sine Nomine’s potential Coral Scottish National bid.

An ‘old-fashioned’ winner of the Cheltenham Hunters’ Chase in that Needham is strictly an amateur behind her day job as Catterick’s clerk of the course, the grey’s victory was one of the most popular at the Festival.

The Congratulations Fifi & Sine Nomine Handicap took place at Catterick on Wednesday in homage to her achievement, something she knew nothing about, but while the racing world is counting down to Aintree, Needham, who won the Cheltenham race as a jockey on Last Option as well, has her eyes fixed elsewhere.

“It was 22 years after riding the winner but it was a dream come true – I didn’t think I’d have a horse good enough to run in it again, so to win it was unbelievable,” she told Racing TV.

“I never think I’m going to win, I’m the biggest pessimist, but my boyfriend did back her and when I asked why he said ‘you must be quite confident, as you said we might be placed, which is as good as it ever gets’ – so I suppose you could say I fancied her.

“She always travels well in her races, which is what you need there. She’d run there twice before, the first was first time over fences and the second we thought she might not have got up the hill, but she over-raced a bit.

“My only instructions to John (Dawson) were to save a bit for the hill but he was very cool.

“She’s come out of it very well, she’s very much a confidence mare and knows she’s won. She’s entered for the Scottish National, obviously she’d need to get in, but it keeps raining, which is in our favour, so we’ll see where we go from there.”

Needham happy to miss Aintree with Festival star Sine Nomine

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Fiona Needham has revelled in the Cheltenham Festival heroics of Sine Nomine – but there will be no shot at the Cheltenham-Aintree double this year for her star mare.

The Catterick clerk of the course was successful in the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase as a rider in 2002, partnering her father Robin Tate’s Last Option to victory.

And she joined the list of famous names to both ride and train the winner of the ‘amateur Gold Cup’ when saddling bargain buy Sine Nomine, who cost just £2,400 as a three-year-old, to topple the JP McManus-owned Its On The Line in the hands of John Dawson.

Owned by her father, Sine Nomine sported the same colours Needham wore to victory herself 22 years ago, with the joyous scenes seen in the winner’s enclosure carrying on right through the weekend.

“She put in a stellar performance and she’s very full of herself since,” said Needham.

“It was a wonderful day and really was the stuff dreams are made of. Her jockey gave her a brilliant ride and the bit of drama where he had to switch at the last didn’t do a lot for my heartrate at the time, but probably made the race more exciting.

“You would have to say she would have won quite easily but for that, but it really showed she is quite gutsy and determined. She quickened up a lot better than I expected up the hill.”

Sine Nomine winning at Cheltenham
Sine Nomine winning at Cheltenham (David Davies for the Jockey Club/PA)

Dawson received a 14-day ban for using the whip two times more than the permitted seven which will see him on the sidelines while the Randox Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase takes place during the opening day of Aintree’s Grand National meeting.

However, some relief for Dawson will be Needham deciding against trying to replicate On The Fringe’s achievement of completing the same Aintree-Cheltenham hunter chase double, with a return to Cheltenham for their hunter chase card in early May followed by a crack at Stratford’s Pertemps Network Stratford Foxhunters Champion Hunters’ Chase later that month in the back of the trainer’s mind.

She said: “We debated Aintree but she did just knock a joint a little bit, which is fine and settling down, but I just want to give her a bit longer and she does not have an entry for Aintree.

“She jumps well but she’s quite bold and I’m not sure that’s the best way to be at Aintree.

“It could be straight to Cheltenham for the hunter chase meeting or Stratford and there re one or two options.

“Obviously it might depend on what the handicapper does with her, but we will see. One route could be the Cheltenham evening meeting and then it could be the Horse and Hound Cup (at Stratford), but that would all be ground dependent because it is going to dry up at some stage. If it keeps raining then great!”

Having savoured a second big afternoon at the Cheltenham Festival, Needham’s thoughts also turn to the eight-year-old returning to Prestbury Park in a bid to join the plethora of back-to-back winners.

Jockey John Dawson celebrates on Sine Nomine after winning at Cheltenham
Jockey John Dawson celebrates on Sine Nomine after winning at Cheltenham (David Davies for the Jockey Club/PA)

On The Fringe (2015 and 2016) and Pacha Du Polder (2017 and 2018) were the most recent to win the race in consecutive years and Needham would be keen to give a repeat a chance after Sine Nomine proved with aplomb she can handle the white hot atmosphere of Gold Cup day in the Cotswolds.

“I’m not sure my nerves will stand it, but you do get repeat winners at Cheltenham,” continued Needham.

“One thing you never know until they get there is the occasion, because it is a big occasion for the horses, and she took it well – she thought everyone was coming to look at her, which is the best way to be.”

Sine Nomine seals famous Festival success for Needham

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There was a winner for the north at the Cheltenham Festival as Fiona Needham’s Sine Nomine edged out 11-8 favourite Its On The Line in a thrilling finish to the St. James’s Place Festival Challenge Cup Open Hunters’ Chase.

The market leader’s jockey Derek O’Connor was attempting to enter the record books by winning all three amateur rider events in the same week, but it was Catterick clerk of the course Needham who added herself to the race’s roll of honour for a second time.

Needham rode Last Option to victory in 2002 for her father Robin Tate and Sine Nomine, who cost just £2,400 as a three-year-old, sported the same Tate colours here.

Sine Nomine and her winning connections
Sine Nomine and her winning connections (PA)

The eye was drawn to Sine Nomine throughout the contest as the eight-year-old travelled with real zest in the hands of John Dawson but there was still plenty of work to do as David Christie’s long-time leader Ferns Lock gave way on the run to two out and eventual third Time Leader took things up.

Dawson elected to make his challenge up the inner where O’Connor was working away urging last year’s runner-up and having found himself short of room after the last, Dawson had to switch and regather his mount before launching one last assault up the Cheltenham hill.

It was a challenge timed to perfection as although Its On The Line soon had Time Leader covered, he had no answer to Sine Nomine’s late thrust as the gallant grey became the toast of Yorkshire at odds of 8-1.

John Dawson celebrates aboard Sine Nomine
John Dawson celebrates aboard Sine Nomine (David Davies/Jockey Club)

Needham was delighted to secure top honours for her father and hailed Dawson’s effort in the saddle.

She said: “This is a dream come true and what a ride by John. I told him to try to save a bit for the final hill and boy did she pick up. She’s a star.

“I was screaming my head off and making it very embarrassing for myself, but it means so much to me and my father Robin. I thought if she was third she’d have run a very good race, and that was where I thought she was going to finish, but then she picked up.

“It’s a long way from Catterick to Cheltenham but the decision to train and then bring her here has paid off.

“You don’t get highs like this at Catterick!”

Sine Nomine finished second in a previous trip to Prestbury Park last May but was a first Festival contender for Needham.

She added: “Last Option won and the following year was third, and since then I’ve just had three or four runners at the hunter chase meeting, none at the Festival.”

Sine Nomine edged out Its On The Line
Sine Nomine edged out Its On The Line (David Davies/Jockey Club)

Dawson said: “It’s just a dream. I just never thought for a moment we’d be mixing it here with these top jockeys – watching Derek O’Connor yesterday; top, top riders, and to have our name on that trophy is something.

“I’m getting on a bit now, riding, I’ve been round the block a bit, and I’ve been down here a few times on long, long shots, and you sort of know your fate before you come here, but with her, I genuinely didn’t know how good she was, and today she’s proved that.

“For Yorkshire and the northern point-to-point circuit to have someone like that flying that flag, and to prove that British point-to-points can produce top-level horses.

“Fiona is fantastic to ride for and there’s no pressure. She has the knowledge and experience, she understands what will go wrong and right, and they are fantastic supporters of point-to-pointing – year in, year out they will have five or six pointers, and have stuck at it.

“I’m just pleased to be on a really, really nice one.”