Foxes win by a whisker

Despite weather putting these championships in turmoil, organisers did an incredible job to make it happen, with an exciting finale

- JANE CARLEY

Bicester, Newton Morrell, Oxon

FOX GRANT DOT COM retained the National Team Chasing Champions title after a nail-biting final in the sunshine at the Bicester team chase.

The drama began a week earlier when incessant rain claimed the Fernie team chase, which has hosted the championship since 2018.

Rapid negotiations and an extraordinary effort by the Bicester saw the championship class rerouted to the event held at Newton Morrell. Some modification was needed to the Bicester course, renowned as one of the more traditional tracks with its whopping hedges, to make a challenge within the reach of all those who had qualified, while still testing the sport’s very best squads.

If Fox Grant Dot Com were daunted, it wasn’t obvious. Phil Nichols led them away on the home-bred Harry in usual thrusting style, taking a stride out at the first big question, a hedge deep in the corner, before swinging tightly round the enclosure towards the water. Abbie Weatherstone’s The Captains Inn had declined by this point, but Will Grant (Skipper Robin) and Fred White (Antony) galloped on in close order.

They swept through the three water crossings, Phil clashing with a low branch, before heading to Dickie’s Corner, two huge hedges at a 90-degree angle to each other, their leader again riding his luck but staying in the plate. Coming through the middle of the course, Fred took Antony into second slot, the pace telling on the 17-year-old Skipper Robin.

They all got fantastic shots at a succession of big blackthorns on the back of the course before the final switchback and gallop home, to secure the victory by one-hundredth of a second.