Autumn internationals 2010

TOURISM chiefs hailed the Archbishop of York the answer to their prayers when they presented him with the top award at a major ceremony.

The annual York Tourism Awards, organised by Visit York, were held at the National Railway Museum last night, to celebrate excellence in the city’s crucial tourism industry.

Fourteen winners, picked from hundreds of entries, were presented with their awards at the event hosted by writer and broadcaster Gervase Phinn.

The award for Tourism Ambassador 2010 went to Dr John Sentamu for the role he plays both nationally and internationally in putting York on the map.

Since his arrival in the city in 2005, visitors have met the Archbishop offering open-air baptisms, he has visited flood victims in Cumbria and made visits overseas.

Visit York chairman John Yeomans said: “The Archbishop has contributed greatly to raising the profile of the city and we’re delighted he has accepted this award in recognition of the work he does both in York and across the globe.”

Last year he rode My Will, a Paul Nicholls horse, but could only manage 3rd. However, this year he’s on the favorite, Big Fella Thanks, who also happens to be trained by Nicholls. Big Fella Thanks had a great race last year as he finished 6th at the tender age of 7 so with Ruby Walsh in charge he might live up to his billing.

Tony McCoy, who this year is riding Don’t Push It, is one of the greatest jockeys of the modern era with over 3000 career wins which have brought him virtually every prize going except the coveted Grand National. Racing in the Aintree Grand National 2010 will mark the 15th time he has attempted the course so he is more than familiar with it but so far has only managed 3rd place.

Sam Twiston-Davies may not be a celebrated jockey but he’s making plenty of headlines for the Aintree Grand National 2010. At 17-years-old he’s competing to become the youngest winner since Bruce Hobbs won with Battleship in 1938. Hobbs was also aged 17 at the time. He’s riding a decent horse in Hello Bud, trained by his father Nigel, but his inexperience may take its toll.

Dr Sentamu, who was unable to attend the award ceremony in person, said it was a “great honour”.

He said: “York is one of the greatest cities in Britain. It’s not just the great tourist attractions we have here like the Minster, the Jorvik Viking Centre and the Railway Museum that draw people into the city – no, I put it down to the incredible people we have here in York. Yorkshire people may be famous for being straight talking, but they are also renowned for being warm-spirited, kind-hearted and very welcoming to our visitors. I think that’s the main reason people keep coming back – and also one of the main reasons I have won this award!”

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STAR Singapore sprinter Rocket Man, who has been entered for the Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot, routed his rivals into complete back-to-back victories in the $500,000 Lion City Cup on Saturday.

Rocket Man was beaten for only the second time in his career when runner-up to Kinsale King in last month's Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan, after which rider Robbie Fradd was subjected to much criticism back home in Singapore.

The South African admitted to being a relieved man after the four-year-old, who has now won nine races, got back to winning ways on Saturday at Kranji.

"It's not a monkey off my back - it's a gorilla!" said Fradd, quoted on the Singapore Turf Club website.

"There was a bit of pressure on me after Dubai. There was a bit of a hiccup in Dubai and it was my fault, but I have to thank Pat and Fred for sticking by me - this horse means the world to me.

"I've ridden a lot of good horses over my time. It is hard to judge horses over different distances, but I have no hesitation in declaring this horse as the best sprinter I have ridden.

"He has a really high cruising speed. He just breaks their hearts which he did today."

Rocket Man was sent to the front from the off and fought off the filly Mexican Rose before clearingaway at halfway and coasting home.

He scored by two and a quarter lengths from Waikato.

Rocket Man will now run in the KrisFlyer International Sprint back at Kranji next month before a possible trip to Ascot.

"What more can I say about him. He's a superstar!" said a delighted Shaw.

"He's back on track and the KrisFlyer is right on target. That's the way to ride him and he's proven yet again he is one class above."

 'After the Lockinge there are races like the Queen Anne and the Jacques le Marios and connections are looking at all sorts of races in all sorts of places.'

The colours of Ballymacoll Stud were successful in the Bet365 Gordon Richards Stakes for the second year running as Glass Harmonium followed up stablemate Tartan Bearer's 2009 win under Ryan Moore.

Another to strike at Royal Ascot, the Michael Stoute-trained four-year-old made giant strides under the champion jockey - who was sporting a black eye after being hit by a piece of turf in the previous race - and the 11-1 chance displayed plenty of heart to hold the determined Redwood by a head.

The annual clash between the stars of each code is always the subject of plenty of weighing room banter but Kirby had the right ammunition on his side in Halsion Chancer (8-1), a workmate of John Best's 2000 Guineas hope Inler.

Best's assistant Martin Smith said: 'It's a bit of a boost for Inler - the horse has worked with him two or three times.

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Beating the record-breaking 2009 season is the challenge for York Racecourse this year, as head of marketing and sponsorship James Brennan tells STEVE CARROLL.

THEY could not have asked for a better year. Record crowds, two massive Saturday meetings, and the world’s best racehorse Sea The Stars capping the campaign with a fabulous Juddmonte International victory.

That’s the focus for the team at York Racecourse as they begin to gear up for their 17-day season on Knavesmire, which starts on May 12 with the three-day Dante Festival.

With Royal Ascot at York, the St Leger Festival and a four-day York Ebor Festival in the bank over the past half-dozen years, the feeling of “looking to go one better” is hardly new.

And, if anything, they relish the challenge.

“You always have to keep moving forward,” says James Brennan, York’s head of marketing and sponsorship. “2009 was a fantastic season, particularly coming after the disappointments of 2008.

“It was fantastic to see the trackwork project up and running and meet with approval from so many better judges than me. It was fantastic to see the world’s best racehorse Sea The Stars – the crowd really welcomed him back as a true champion, not just a winning favourite.

“It’s important to us that people come and support us and we are grateful for that because it all gets reinvested back into racing at York whether it is boosting prize money or capping attendance fees. It can only come on the back of people’s support and we are conscious of the need to keep earning that.”

The off-season saw York picking up gong after gong. They were hailed by the Racegoers Club, named the country’s top Flat course by the Racehorse Owners’ Association and their groundstaff were also praised with an industry award.

This year, the four-day Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival, running from Tuesday, August 17 to Friday, August 20, remains the ace in York’s pack, with the Juddmonte International, totesport Ebor, Darley Yorkshire Oaks and Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes the feature contests.

World Cup action should be a highlight of the 40th Charity Day, on Saturday, June 12, with England kicking off their challenge for the trophy against the USA following a meeting which has raised more than £4.7 million for cancer charities. Brennan reckons there is much to look forward to.

“It will be great to be coming back racing,” he added. “We are looking forward to seeing Madness perform. There’s always a buzz going into the season and you will start hearing talk about the St Nicholas Abbeys and the other horses that are set to come and run in May and will come back to us again in August.

“The experience of 2009 for most of the 80,000 people who attended the first four-day Ebor Festival was a positive one and we will come on for the run, as they say.

“You wouldn’t work at a racecourse without looking forward to the season. Every year, we have had some different things to do. It’s a great industry to be involved in on racedays.

“There is a real pride when the alarm clock goes off, you come in and the place is waking up. By the time racegoers and horses arrive it is a buzz. We will make sure we are ready.”

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Whinstone Boy worth a punt as rain continues to fall ahead of Glorious Goodwood Horseracing on Tuesday

Soft ground now seems increasingly assured for Tuesday Glorious Goodwood Horseracing meeting and conditions at Goodwood Racecourse will be markedly different to those at the Cheltenham Festival.

"Thankfully, the forecast is for the weather to improve in the second half of next week, but there are more showers due between now and then and it clearly looks as if it's going to be on the soft side," said the clerk of the course, Andrew Tulloch. "The grass is two to three weeks behind where we would want it to be. We take a lot of pride in making the surface as good as it can be, but the snow badly interrupted the grass growth."

Testing conditions would surely lead to a major shake-up in the betting. The favourite, Big Fella Thanks, won in atrocious conditions at Doncaster last season, while Mon Mome should also be fine, but the likes of Backstage, Can't Buy Time and State of Play would surely be disadvantaged.

Whinstone Boy, a noted mudlark, needs 14 higher-weighted horses to come out if he is to get a run but as long as he is declared, backers will have their stakes refunded even if he fails to make the final line-up. The downside to backing him at 33‑1 with William Hill looks minimal if the rain continues to fall as predicted.

Smith's-sponsored showpiece. It brings heartbreak for Jamie Codd, the amateur jockey who will now lose his dream mount.

That decision would once have been the province of Tony McCoy, these days retained by J.P.McManus. The champion owner has his usual multiple entry, for a race neither he nor his celebrated jockey has won, and McCoy's lengthy cogitations have had significant effects on the ante-post market.

Desert Orchid, easily the best of the British victors, was another to prove that class will out when he scored under 12st, giving between 26lb and 28lb to 13 rivals in 1990. There have been less distinguished winners, though, even bizarre ones. If Brown Lad was the Irish National's equivalent of Red Rum, then possibly its Foinavon may be found in Alike, successful in 1929 when ridden by Frank Wise, who was missing three fingers and rode with a wooden leg.

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The Grand National Festival is a drug win one and you can think only of winning another. Just ask Nigel Twiston-Davies or Venetia Williams, who try respectively for a third and second win at Aintree on Saturday. Or ask David and Patricia Thompson, who yesterday purchased a ready-made National runner, hoping to replicate a previously triumphant method.

The Thompsons own Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket. Their business is breeding Flat horses. But a love of jumping is embodied by the National dream, finessed to fruition when they bought Party Politics just three days before his victory in 1992.

They have not cut it quite so fine this time. Character Building, trained in Yorkshire by John Quinn and already a Cheltenham Festival winner, was sold at the weekend to race in Mrs Thompson's colours in the John

“The new owners have asked that a professional ride the horse and enquiries are being made,” Quinn said. Those inquiries are likely to be fielded by jump racing's dominant agent, Dave Roberts, whose clients still without a National ride include Richard Johnson and Robert Thornton.

Other jockeys remain spoilt for choice. Timmy Murphy is to school a number of horses at David Pipe's Somerset stable today and discuss whether to remain loyal to Comply Or Die - the winner in 2008 and runner-up last year - or desert him for the lighter-weighted The Package, also owned by his employer, David Johnson.

Arbor Supreme and Can't Buy Time have already been the subject of public gambles - or bookmaker pragmatism - after rumours of McCoy's affiliation. The latest to get the treatment is Don't Push It, an increasingly likely choice if soft ground prevails, as seems probable.

Richie McLernon is awaiting McCoy's reject, with Graham Lee engaged for whichever Johnson-owned horse Murphy discards. The betting market will follow such decisions, while other horses to come in for weekend support included two that won over the National fences last April.

Irish Raptor graduates from the Topham Trophy and is the choice of Paddy Brennan from six intended runners in the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard. Another, the Scottish National victor Hello Bud, will be partnered by the trainer's schoolboy son, Sam.

A decision is expected today on whether the Gold Cup winner, Imperial Commander, will reappear in the totesport Bowl on Thursday. “I'm keen to run but the owners are not yet convinced,” Twiston-Davies said. Khyber Kim, runner-up for the yard in the Champion Hurdle, is an intended starter in the Aintree Hurdle on Saturday, when the opposition will include Zaynar.

Mon Mome was 100-1 when he won the National for Willliams last year but he could be a single-figure price as he bids to become the first since Red Rum to defend the crown successfully. Meanwhile, his trainer turns her attentions to a foreign National today, dispatching two horses from Herefordshire for the Irish version.

Aidan Coleman, the stable jockey who chose wrongly when partnering Stan instead of Mon Mome at Aintree, will ride Officier De Reserve rather than Flintoff, part-owned by the cricketer of the same name.

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