Ruby returns, Winx does it again, Southwell shunned and more
WINNERS ENCLOSURE
What’s been good in racing…
- Everyone in racing stables and at racecourses for keeping the show on the road during the snow and ice
- Ruby Walsh making a winning return to race riding, having been absent from the saddle since mid-November, on Lareena at Thurles
- Winx running away with a seven-lengths victory in the Chipping Norton at Randwick, her 23rd straight win and 16th Group 1 victory
- Chelmsford seeking extra fixtures next year to run turf racing, including under floodlights
- Jeremiah McGrath landing a treble at Lingfield’s turf meeting, including a ride on Kupatana which won plaudits after the horse ran away with him and completed a circuit prior to the race but was allowed to take her chances
- Thirty-four racecourses being rated “excellent” (a score of 80% or higher) in the annual Quality Assured Racecourse Scheme undertaken by VisitEngland and VisitScotland, an increase from 27 tracks in 2016 – the assessment includes everything from pre-fixtures phone calls and use of social media to raceday visits reviewing facilities, and all 60 tracks were rated as good (60% score) or better
- An air ambulance being permanently based at the Cheltenham Festival for immediate response to any emergencies – the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity will have a helicopter simulator at the track and will also be selling merchandise
- The Silk Series of races exclusively for female jockeys being expanded to four more racecourses (Goodwood, Hamilton Park, Musselburgh and York are joining eight Arc tracks) and prize money increasing by 50% to £150,000
- Sky Bet replacing walk-in girls for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, which they sponsor, with a representative of the Injured Jockeys Fund who have nominated former jockey Richard Hawkins who will lead in the winner of the opener at the Cheltenham Festival – Sky Bet are donating £5,000 to the IJF
- Stable staff receiving an extra pay rise from next month following discussions between the National Trainers Federation and the National Association of Racing Staff
STEWARDS ROOM
…and what hasn’t been so good
- Southwell’s hastily arranged bumper meeting attracting only 13 paying spectators, who were just about outnumbered by the runners – along with other low attendances, the numbers have called into question the SP return system
- “From what I can see, she is in great shape” – Willie Mullins stable tour on Vroom Vroom Mag in the Racing Post Weekender, published the same day her retirement was announced
- The RSPCA expressing concern that there is no process in place to check that jockeys’ whips meet strict stipulations
- The bad weather preventing the distribution of the Irish Field Cheltenham Festival magazine in Great Britain
- Salem Bin Ghadayer, who trains for Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum in the UAE, being found guilty for administering ketamine to a horse – his one-year ban has been suspended pending an appeal
