Wetherby will host its
first fixture since early June on Wednesday, October 17, when the 22nd annual
Spinal Research Raceday is staged at the start of an exciting new season for
the Yorkshire racecourse.
The racecourse has spent
over £100,000 on improvements to facilities during the close season. There has
been the internal remodification of hospitality boxes and new televisions have
also been installed throughout.
Money has also been
spent on maintenance and top-dressing of the racecourse in preparation for the
new season, while the canter down on the track has been resurfaced.
Spinal Research, the
charity which funds research into finding a cure for paralysis caused by injury
to the spinal cord, will be holding the annual northern raceday at Wetherby for
the 22nd consecutive year, with £400,000 raised by 2011.
A seven-race card at
Wetherby is headlined by the Bobby Renton Handicap Chase (3.55pm) over two and
a half miles and the action gets underway with the Rachel Wright Memorial
Hurdle (2.20pm) over an extended two miles.
The contest for juvenile
maidens is run in remembrance of Rachel Wright, who founded the Spinal Research
Charity fixture over two decades ago. She broke her back in a riding accident
at the age of 21.
Michelle Marsh, events
and community fundraiser of Spinal Research, said: "The Spinal Research
charity fixture at Wetherby has always been well supported since the event was
initially started by Rachel Wright 22 years ago.
"She was a local
lady in Wetherby, a paralysed wheelchair user, and unfortunately passed away in
2006. However, her legacy remains and the local people have come together to
support Spinal Research in memory of Rachel.
"At this year's
Spinal Research raceday, our guest of honour will be Olympic silver medallist
Nicola Wilson and her event horse Opposition Buzz. They will be located outside
the Spinal Research marquee to meet guests. This has been allowed very kindly
by the horse's owner Rosemary Search, who lives locally and will be attending.
"There is also
going to be a charity lunch before racing, an auction, a raffle, tombola and
plenty of other things for people to get involved with. It's possible for
people to book tickets through Wetherby to join us on the day."
Local handler Sue Smith,
who is based at High Eldwick, West Yorkshire, was leading trainer at the course
last season and is hoping to have runners at the Spinal Research Charity
fixture.
Smith said: "I will
be making some entries for the Spinal Research Charity fixture on the 17th but
I'm not 100% which horses will be running at the moment.
"Wetherby is our
local track and everyone likes having runners at their local track. It is an
excellent, fair course and, if all is well, we like targeting the races
there."
GOING
The going at Wetherby is
currently Good to Soft, Good in places.
Wetherby's Chief
Executive and Clerk of the Course, Jonjo Sanderson, said: "We finished our
last race meeting (June 7) with 24 millimetres of rain and it seems like it
hasn't stopped raining since then!
"We have had 425
millimetres of rain since we last raced. As a comparison, during the same
period last year we had 280 millimetres, two years ago we had 240 millimetres
and the same period three years ago, we had 260 millimetres of rain.
"We had a dry window
at the end of July and in early August so we were able to get all our track
remedial work done when we wanted, which was good."
No comments:
Post a Comment