Which British racecourse was the first to stage an evening meeting? And which British racecourse was the first to stage a race restricted to female riders? And which racecourse was the first to allow female to ride against the men?
In the 'Another View' column in the Racing Post today, David Carr clearly and inventively demonstrates the uselessness of the B.H.A. in appointing someone to succeed to Lord Allen as its Chair. In fact, any reasonably intelligent dining chair could have acted more swiftly than the B.H.A. Are people finally latching on to the incompetence of the sport's guardian?
A Report by New Horizon Economics and Reading University has announced that Ascot racecourse, primarily due to the Royal Meeting, I would suspect, is worth a staggering £264.5-million quid to the British economy. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it all of those who oppose our sport. It is a report that I hope will fall onto the desks of the Betting and Gambling Council and appropriate ministers in wierd Kier's cabinet of yes-men and anything you say prime minister women. In 2024, the royal meeting attracted 6,200 overseas visitors from 76-countries. I can moan all I want about the dress code and the cruelty imposed on old men due to the rule of top hat and tails but even I cannot deny that the royal meeting is without doubt indispensable to both our sport and the British economy.
As someone who could do with losing a stone in weight - the sudden tightness of some of my shirts attest to that particular truth - I stand in awe of someone who can shed eight-stone so that she can ride racehorses off and on the racecourse. I suppose when your mother was a champion amateur rider and your father a professional jockey, you might feel a let-down to the family when your weight balloons to such proportions that you would be unable to ride in a heavyweight point-to-point race. Even so, to lose eight-stone, with ambitions to go lower so she can further her career in the saddle, is a wonderful and inspiring, though perhaps not for me, achievement and Kayleigh Williams fully deserved to win on her first ever ride in public at Hamilton last week. For a first ride, I thought she gave Doon the Glen a polished ride. I hope trainer Jim Goldie was equally impressed. Incidentally, is there a better trainer than Goldie in the whole country? I doubt it.
The answer to question 1 - Les Landes in Jersey. The answer to question 2 - Les Landes. The answer to question 3 - yes, you guessed it, Les Landes.
I am currently reading Graham Sharpe and John Henwood's book 'Jersey Jockeys and Guernsey Gallopers', a history of Channel Islands Horseracing. So far, and one must remember this is a history book, not a novel where editors like to have a murder by page 10 and a graphic depiction of a sex act by page 27, the read is dull, though dotted with interesting facts, as above, with the first chapter a 68-page list of Channel Island racing since 1789. I am currently about to enter the year 2,000. I suspect Mattie Bachelor will make his first appearance soon. Princess Anne rode in a race at Les Landes back in the 1980's. As did Richard Dunwoody and Lester Piggott. Dunwoody's then wife won a race at Les Landes during their honeymoon. See, dotted with interesting facts. Lester won, by the way. Though he did describe the racecourse as resembling a wall of death.