Penalty kick for Posh Totty

Posh Totty is on a retrieval mission when the second of the season’s Thororoughbred Breeders’ Association Club Members’ races for fillies and mares takes place at Chipley Park (2.55) in Somerset on Sunday.

The nine-year-old daughter of Midnight Legend raced home well clear in the TBA’s opening event at Larkhill last month, but was disqualified on a weight technicality. The same mistake will not be made this time, and the crucial 3lb penalty for an open-race win last season is unlikely to prevent her scoring again. Four-time British champion Will Biddick is in the saddle, and trainer Jack Barber’s succinct, “She should run well” suggests his mare has had a clear run to the race.

Likely dangers include Whenharrymetsally, an eight-year-old daughter of champion sire King’s Theatre, and Shanann Star, a ten-year-old by Anshan. Shanann Star is now the only horse in Gordon Edwards’ Devon stable after he sold Supreme Danehill just over a week ago to Betfair in order to provide another ride for Olympian Victoria Pendleton.

Whenharrymetsally, from Keith Cuming’s North Devon yard, won a members’ race at Bratton Down in June, having previously finished third in a TBA race at the same venue.

Charlotte Budd, the first woman to ride in the Grand National – in 1977 under her maiden name of Brew – saddles unraced I’m Not Stopping, an eight-year-old daughter of Storming Home. Budd says: “I wintered some horses for a friend of mine, Wendy Ward, and she gave me this mare as a thank you. Wendy has bred some good horses, including [Grade One winner] Melodic Rendezvous. The mare was very small when she arrived, but after two years she has grown a bit and so we decided to give her a run. I opted for the TBA race, rather than a maiden, so she’s among some better horses for her first experience. Sean Houlihan, who has schooled her, will ride.”

Eight entries have been taken for the TBA mares’ race, and the meeting starts at 12.00.