Ross Birkett leads Bollinger table with full field at Salisbury today

23-06-2010

ROSS BIRKETT is pictured above with trainer mother Julia Feilden at Newbury after his recent win there on 10th June in this year’s Bollinger Series for gentleman amateur riders which takes him into the current leading position.

A full field of 14 feature this afternoon at Salisbury for the 4th leg of this year’s 8 race series.

Newton Abbot gives Irish amateur Lisa O’Neill first career winner!

22-06-2010

There may have only been 6 runners in the final race of the evening at Newton Abbot but the race will live long in the memory of winning Irish amateur jockey LISA O’NEILL as she enjoyed her first winner on her debut ride in England.  Assistant to trainer father Tommy, Lisa has been placed many times and her experience paid dividends this evening.

The Newton Abbot Races GB v Ireland Lady Amateur Riders Handicap Hurdle was the first leg of an annual 2 race challenge with 2 teams of 6 lady amateur jockeys representing their respective countries.

Ireland ended the evening with 1st, 3rd and 5th places and the return match at Limerick in November is now keenly looked forward to by the girls.

Many congratulations to Lisa on a great win!  She is pictured above, having jumped the last in front to go on and pass the post to win comfortably on Nigel Hawke’s Vintage Fabric nearly 4 lengths ahead of SALLY RANDELL and Milton Harris’  Bold Policy with EVANNA MCCUTCHEON and Anabel King’s Wisteria Lane in third.

Very many thanks to both Jason Loosemore at Newton Abbot racecourse and Russell Ferris at Limerick racecourse for their generosity in making these races possible and to all owners and trainers for their support.

Newton Abbot stages Anglo/Irish ladies hurdle

21-06-2010

Tuesday evening 22nd June sees Newton Abbot host their annual leg of the Anglo/Irish ladies hurdle challenge with six Irish amateur lady jockeys invited to ride at the West Country course to take on the British team of six, with the return match scheduled to take place at Limerick on 7th November.

With 21 entries made for the race, only 7 declared resulting in reduced teams as follows:

Good luck to the lady riders!

DEJA VU FOR SERENA BROTHERTON AT RIPON

17-06-2010

Our reigning lady flat amateur champion SERENA BROTHERTON returned to the scene of her 2001 triumph at Ripon today to excel in the highly competitive 15 runner Beaumont Robinson Ladies Derby Handicap and add her name to this season’s winners tables.

Partnering Maneki Neko for Edwin Tuer, Serena was always well positioned and took it up quickly from over a furlong out to score comfortably, with JOANNA MASON and Golden Future 4 1/2 lengths back in second and RUTH JEFFERSON and Choctaw Nation a further couple of lengths in third.

Many congratulations to winning connections.

Extract from Racing Post Friday 18th June – David Carr’s report on Ripon – click on link below:

serena.pdf

RUTH JEFFERSON WINS IN USA!

13-06-2010

British lady jockeys’ representative RUTH JEFFERSON rode her first winner in the Fegentri series today in Delaware Park, USA.  In a thrilling finish, Ruth just held on to win by a neck from Sweden’s Cathrine Engebretsen with France’s Pauline Boisgontier a further neck back in third.

This winning ride takes Ruth into 2nd place behind Pauline in the league tables with another race in the US tomorrow at Philadelphia Park before the next Fegentri race is held at Nottingham on 3rd July.  Many congratulations to Ruth.  Great Britain has been runner-up for the last 2 years in the Fegentri Ladies World Championship but GB has never won the ladies title in Fegentri’s history, so our hopes are high for Ruth.

Meanwhile our gentleman jockeys’ representative HARRY CHALLONER flew out to Sweden today for three rides there tomorrow in the Fegentri flat race, the Swedish Champion Hurdle and the Swedish Grand National.  Harry then travels to Dieppe on 28th June.

RACHEL KING WINS QUEEN MOTHER’S CUP

12-06-2010

The sunshine at York welcomed RACHEL KING to the winner’s enclosure this afternoon following the 23rd running of the Queen Mother’s Cup with a bumper field of 18.

Prominent in the early stages of the race were Daaweitza, Twisted and Conquisto ridden by KATIE WALSH, but turning into the straight it was the turn of LOUISE ALLAN on Antiqua Sunrise to take it up and lead into the final furlong.  However, Rachel had lined up bottom weight Desert Recluse down the centre of the track for the final stages of the race, riding a well judged run to outstay her rivals and go on to score by 6 lengths.

Rachel was scoring for the third time under Rules in her career so far.  Last season’s amateur lady champion jump jockey LUCY HORNER finished in 2nd place on Alcalde, with JACQUELINE COWARD 3rd on the on-running Crackentorp and EMILY JONES 4th on Siberian Tiger.

After her victory Rachel said “He did it very well.  He was the only 3 year old in the field against older horses.  He was so game, he never gave up.”  Thanks to the customary generosity of Pol Roger, Rachel can now look forward to enjoying drinking her weight in champagne as is the tradition with this historic lady riders’ race.  Many congratulations to Rachel and winning connections.

Extract from Racing Post 12th June 2010 – David Ashforth looks back at previous Queen Mother’s Cup races – click on link below:

dashforthyork120610.pdf

Charlotte’s dream comes true

09-06-2010

Congratulations to Charlotte Holmes on riding her first Flat winner this evening at Hamilton in only her fifth ride under Rules.

Having missed the break, IVESTAR did not look likely to be troubling the judge.  However, once the field hit the rising ground, his stamina came into play.

With riding instructions of not to make a move until after the 2f marker, at that point Charlotte got to work and her mount responded by running on strongly to lead close home in a tight finish, beating reigning champion amateur jockey Simon Walker and EL DECECY by a neck who in turn finished in front of Justin Newman and FINAL SALUTE by a nose.

STRATFORD SEES AMATEUR JUMP CHAMPIONS CROWNED

29-05-2010

Very many congratulations to OLIVER GREENALL and ISABEL TOMPSETT on their emphatic wins of their respective Gentleman and Lady Amateur National Hunt Jockey Championships for the 2009/10 season which saw Oliver complete the season with a huge tally of 31 winners and Isabel sign off with 12 winners.

Both champions were presented with their traditional magnum of Bollinger by AJA Vice President Dr Philip Pritchard at the last jump race meeting of the season today at Stratford, accompanied by their runners up who also received bottles of champagne – SAM TWISTON-DAVIES on 13 winners and GINA ANDREWS on 7 winners.

Very many congratulations to them and indeed to all AJA members who have ridden winners under Rules this season.  A full list of these appears under the Championship Tables link on the left of this site.

Would YOU like to ride in a charity race at Newbury?

26-05-2010

Thurday 10th June sees the annual charity race at Newbury in aid of Spinal Injuries and this year is not without its tale of courage.

Meregan Norwood (pictured above under the tutelage of jockey coach Stan Mellor) beat breast cancer last year and set herself the task of raising £20,000 for a cancer charity.  Here is her story so far:

“Last April I was diagnosed with breast cancer and spent the rest of 2009 making sure it never returns with all the fairly awful treatments that goes with that. I was lucky as during the last week of each chemotherapy cycle I was strong enough to ride one racehorse a day. It was at that time that my brother Rupert Turner put this crazy idea in my head. On Thursday June 10 2010 I am riding in a horse race at Newbury Racecourse to raise money for the charities Against Breast Cancer and Spinal Research. By June I will be nearly 64 years old and it will be within a year of starting chemotherapy. In my eyes it would be ungenerous to turn my back on this opportunity to raise some badly needed money in the hope it will help other people not to have to go through what I and so many others have had to go through. As a rider naturally spinal injuries are close to my heart as I know several people who have suffered through injury to their spines so support for this wonderful charity is also important. Quite simply I want to raise £20,000. If 2000 people gave £10 each that it is all it will take. All I am asking you to do is give £10.“ 

Meregan has now raised nearly £14,000 which is being divided between Against Breast Cancer, Spinal Research and Spinal Injuries Association.  Please help Meregan achieve her goal by donating on-line at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Meregan.

Other riders lining up to take part are 2008 winner Leon Nurse (who has also secured the sponsorship of SERCO for the charity race), Vicky Driver, Steve Dunn, Sarah Kilby, Sandra McAllister, Bridget Middlebrough, Guy Morrison, Anna Rowlinson (support her at http://www.justgiving.com/anna-rowlinson) and Paul Wright (support Paul at http://www.justgiving.com/Paul-Wright9)

As rules allow for 12 runners, 2 places remain available for aspiring race riders, with a fit horse available, able to raise at least £1,000 within two weeks!  If you are interested, please contact Sarah Oliver at sph.oliver@btinternet.com

If you would simply like to support this race and make a donation to Spinal Injuries, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/Newbury

Update on Amateur Jump Championships

24-05-2010

With this season’s amateur jumps season ending at Stratford this Saturday, Oliver Greenall and Isabel Tompsett are set to collect their champagne in the annual presentation to be held there on Saturday night with Oliver on a huge tally of 31 winners so far this season and Isabel fresh from riding a winner yesterday at Market Rasen which takes her tally to 12.

The runner-up slot is not so clear cut for the men with Sam Twiston-Davies on 13 amateur wins before he turned professional after Cheltenham, Alan Berry (winning at Worcester last Wednesday) and Matt Griffiths both on 11, Joshua Moore on 10 and Ryan Mahon on 9 (including a double at Newton Abbot last Wednesday) but the ladies runner-up is already determined with Gina Andrews on 7 winners so far and her nearest rivals unable to catch her at this late stage.  (They include Rachael Green who rode a great winner against professionals at Worcester on Wednesday.)

The top of the tables look like this as of today: