NEW RACE HONOUR FOR WELL-KNOWN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE BUSINESSMAN

A new race will be run at Market Rasen Racecourse in November to mark and celebrate the 20 years' service as Chairman of Colin Booth - all well-known businessman in North Lincolnshire.
Colin, popularly known as ‘Bud’, has held the position at the racecourse which is owned by Jockey Club Racecourses, since 1996. He is the Managing Director of the Colin Booth Group, a holding company for a variety of businesses in Lincolnshire, and – since 1974 – has been the owner of Jump and Flat racing horses.
As he will be 70 years old next month, Colin is retiring as Chairman of the Lincolnshire racecourse at the end of the year.
The “Bud Booth Mares’ Listed Chase”, which will be run on Thursday, 3rd November, is one of four additional Mares’ Listed Chases added to Britain’s racing programme by the British Horseracing Authority, the governing body of the sport.
Nadia Gollings, General Manager, Market Rasen Racecourse, said: “We are delighted to have been chosen by the BHA to stage this new and prestigious race. As Bud will be retiring as Chairman at the end of 2016, the Committee of the racecourse felt it was hugely appropriate that it should be run in his honour to mark his very many years of service to racing in this part of the world.
“Bud’s wisdom, knowledge and advice will be sorely missed by us all, but I am sure he will remain a regular visitor to the racecourse from next year onwards after he steps down as Chairman.”
Colin ‘Bud’ Booth, Chairman, Market Rasen Racecourse, said: “I am hugely grateful to the Committee of Market Rasen Racecourse for running this new race in my name. It is a great honour that they have bestowed upon me.
“I have served on the Committee of the racecourse as a Director and then Chairman for the last 25 years – and I have sponsored a race in memory of my late father for 42 years.
“Market Rasen Racecourse has been a huge part of my life and, through my role, I have met some wonderful people who have become friends.
“Ironically, the late Victor Lucas who founded the racecourse and my father were firm friends, but I did not start my role until they had both died so it was an unbelievable coincidence that I became involved later.”
The four new races represent a further enhancement to a long list of initiatives aimed at providing incentives for people to own and train jumping mares. The number of mares’ races in the jumping calendar has grown from 182 in 2008/09 to 328 in 2015/16, reflecting the level of investment into this category. 
Ruth Quinn, the BHA’s Director of International Racing and Racing Development, said: “The addition of these races marks a further bolstering to an area of the programme which we have developed significantly in recent years. Developing an aspirational programme for jumping mares provides a clear incentive for them to be put into training, kept in training for a number of years, and able to be campaigned fully such that they can progress to the height of their ability. There has never been a better time to own or train a mare.”
Market Rasen Racecourse is staging 22 jump racing meetings in 2016 and is a leading conference and events centre in the East Midlands.  More information is available at www.marketrasenraces.co.uk