Thirsk Races

It was a difficult card, the day had many small fields and lots of non-runners. On this card four of the seven winners were favourites.

The first a seller had Bismarck The Flyer tracking the leader, and eventually battling London Grammar for the lead, however when Ted Durcan pushed Bismarck The Flyer he took the lead and won by 1 3/4 lengths. The winner was claimed by Ollie Pears for six and a half thousand pounds.  London Grammar was unlucky as he has been knocking on the door for his past few runs, only being beaten by a short distance 10 days previous.

The 4:40 had an easy win for Rachel Richardson who gave High On Light a great ride, this horse ended up favourite and won by 5 lengths after tracking the leaders, High On Light soon over took the rest of the field. Becky The Thatcher finished second and came strongly through the horses towards the end but was mid-division for most of the race. The filly had no chance at beating High on Light.

The next update will be on the meeting at Chester on the 31st of July.

Redcar races

Such a great day with amazing racing. There was only one favourite winner.

The 3:30 offered an exciting race, and well done to trainer Declan Carroll and Jockey Ger O’Neill who won on Mysterial who led most of the way round only contended at one stage by Livella Fella ridden by Philip Makin. Hopefully next time Ger won’t drop his whip.
The 4:40 race had all the horses closely grouped together. The race was very scrappy with only short distances between them all, Sugar Town the winner ridden by Nathan Evans just edged it with a photo for second place between 3 horses!
Congratulations to  Miss Easterby who rode the winner in the last, the amateur riders handicap.
She patiently kept pushing Broctune Papa Gio as he approached the finish post, she took the lead and easily held it without much competition.  

Redcar had a wonderful meeting, one which I was happy to be at. 

Interview with Phil Dennis

Phil Dennis, 20 year old apprentice in Michael Dods yard. (5 pound claim)

Apprentice Jockey Phil Dennis has been involved with horses from an early age. His parents having owned horses, and then later him having a pony. As a similarity to many other jockeys Phil started in Pony races, eventually progressing to horses and his career spiralling out from there.

Phil’s biggest influences are his parents who have been very supportive and helped him make some choices in his career so far. I think Phils parents should be thanked as they have helped produce a great jockey who has a bright future.     

When Phil isn't riding you'll find him playing a round of golf with his mates off his 19 handicap after which he'll enjoy some steak and chips and maybe a cheeky nandos. 

Uptil now Phil has rode 26 winners on turf and 8 winners on all weather. His next rides are on Saturday night on Fools Dream and Minningrocks at Hamilton, I'm sure he will ride well. 

Beverley Family Fun day- 26th July

A lovely day of racing with plenty of entertainment, not just racing but a mini-theme park and disco dome.

The first race was a selling stake, the horse called Chauvelin, ridden by Connor Beasley that came through the others and went on to win beating Impeccability by a furlong. The winner after a bidding war from the start of four thousand pounds finished was sold to N Tinkler for six and a half thousand pounds, the rest of the horses in this race weren't claimed.

The 3:20 race it was very close between all, eventhough this is to be expected with sprint races, it created lots of interesting surprises the favourite finished last, the winner by only half a length was Bond Bombshell trained by David O'Meara. Another unusual aspect of this race was Burtonwood's
jockey Kieran Schofield lost his stirrups and ran the race without, soon after finishing third, he tumbled off the horse.

Next update will be on the race meeting at Redcar.

Last Day of Racing in Yorkshire- Pontefract

A fantastic end to a great week of racing in Yorkshire. The meeting had lots of challenging races with many close calls and photo finishes.

The first race offered a competitive finish between Hemmingway and Peach Pavlova in which Hemmingway won by a nose, this was a photo finish and one I wouldn't have liked to call. Hemmingway tracked the leaders then soon over took the rest of the field. The favourite Savannah's Dream, ridden by Daniel Tudhope finished third and was 1 1/2 lengths behind the leaders.

All the horses that went to the front, stayed at the front and most eventually went on to win. This is exactly what happened in the 3:25 with Save The Bees, ridden by the seven pound claimer Ger O' Neill, he eventually went on to win by 1 1/2 lengths, congratulations to owner Steve Ryan and trainer Declan Carroll. This was Save The Bees' tenth win.

It was a family day, there was a fair, bouncy castle and face paint. Also from New Beginnings a charity which rehomes horses, 2 inside out horses with painted on skeletons and internal organs that were brightly coloured and fun for kids to look at.  

Next update is the meeting at Beverley on the 26th of July. In the near future there will be interviews with up and coming jockeys such as Phil Dennis.

York race course

A great day, along with amazing music from the Kaiser Chiefs. The meeting had six races all showing lots of potential and close calls between many.

The 7:30 race which was the feature race of the evening was won by Diploma, Ted Durcan was wearing the Queens colours, after being ridden along just behind the leaders, when it came to being two furlongs out she began to lead, this race was a reasonably easy win for Diploma who seems to like it at York as she is a course and distance winner. Second was Fireglow who lost out by three and a quarter lengths and carried on chasing the winner.

Once the evening of racing had finished the Kaiser Chiefs started to play going from older hits to newer songs. Ricky Wilson quickly managed to get the crowd on his side and made sure everyone had an enjoyable time and very rapidly had the place bouncing.

The Corrs are playing York after today's racing, hopefully they will be as successful as the Kaiser Chiefs in front of 38 thousand sell out crowd.

Catterick races- summer festival

A day of interesting racing, difficult weather. Also a day for the favourites as six out of the eight races were won by favourites. The card also had one selling stake and one claiming stake.

The second race at 2:30 was a selling stake, this brought about a close race between Racemaker and London Grammar, in which Racemaker just edged it by a short distance, the distances between the rest being of a larger margin. After a long bidding battle between original owner Mich Channon and Andy Crook, the auctioneer flitting between the two, Mr Crook managed to buy the horse for ten thousand pound. Racemaker looks like it may have a great future in racing and should be one to watch. London Grammar was also claimed for seven thousand pound.

After the weather constantly flickering between glorious sunshine and threatening heavy rain showers, the 3:30 claiming stakes created an intriguing race. In the parade ring My Specialbru had been fighting with the handler and when the jockey, Connor Beasley tried to mount the horse, he only managed to stay seated briefly, however the second mount was more successful. As the horse got closer to the stalls he got more and more skittish, as the stall handlers tried to place him in the starting stalls, the gelding bucked and reared making it impossible to be placed in the stalls, therefore it was declared a non-runner. Eventually the race offered great competition which was won by Paul Mulrennan on Just Be Lucky, the second horse, Smart Mover was very unlucky as it was only beaten by a head.

Other components of the day include a bouncy castle and play area for young kids, continuation of the "you've been snapped' photos and the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery with military planes and helicopters which flew overhead. This was another fab day of racing in Yorkshire the next meeting is Doncaster on the 21st of July.

Photos will be added later

Beverley Races

A evening of fantastic weather, music and racing. Throughout the evening there was a constant stream of interesting music and some even more fabulous dancing.

The Rio birds

The meeting started off with samba music and dancing with colourful huge birds made from shopping trolleys and fabric with big wings, and the creative and gorgeous glitter face paint which obviously was matching with each different outfit and personalised to each person, designs ranging
from flowers to unique and detailed patterns (spray glitter will always have a positive reception). The band kept a lively atmosphere along with the dancing show girls, all looking like they should be in Rio since this was a Carnival themed race day.

The meeting had seven races on the card, all with hard to pick winners. The second race, had jockey Jordan Vaughan on Piccolino, bucking and soon Jordan Vaughan was rolling on the ground after Piccolino had been bucking and rearing in the parade ring, fortunately Vaughan is okay and was able to ride a second in the last race. However the clear winner was the Richard Fahey trained favourite The Wagon Wheel, this was a competitive race and The Wagon Wheel was closely followed by Broadhaven Honey.

Congratulations to owner David Tate having a winner in the last race, trained by Tracey Waggott which absolutely charged home, well done on your second winner in two days.

Due to the constant great music, fab weather and amazing atmosphere with some interesting and fun sights, it led to a memorable race meeting at Beverley. What a great continuation to the racing week in Yorkshire. Next meeting is Catterick on Wednesday the 20th of July.

If you go to the racing week in Yorkshire Facebook or Twitter page you can see some of the pics titled 'you've been snapped' and see all the upcoming fun at other meetings. You can also see some of
the great day by going to the just Beverley site. Links in the comments.

Next update will be on the meeting at Catterick.

    

facebook.com/GoRacinginYorkshire

This is my I've been snapped pic and the face glitter

 

Introducing Racing Week in Yorkshire

Racing week in Yorkshire is about to start, this is a whole week dedicated to showing how great racing in Yorkshire is. Everyday there is at least one race meeting (apart from Tuesday). The racing comes along with music, a great atmosphere and drunken revelry. This blog will show some of the highlights, a few of the drunken mistakes and the overall greatness of racing in Yorkshire.

On Monday I will tell you about the racing in Beverly, which has 7 races on the card. This is only one of the many meetings this week. The other meetings are at Catterick, Doncaster, Thirsk, York, Redcar and Ripon, these should all show an amazing level of racing.