BRIGG BLOG'S MARKET RASEN RACES PREVIEW OF 2018'S OPENING MEETING

FROM MARKET RASEN RACECOURSE

Champion jump jockey Richard Johnson is targeting a “home” win in a new race at Market Rasen Racecourse’s opening fixture of 2018 on Wednesday (17th January).
The top rider in Britain will take the reins on Rococo Style – trained by Steve Gollings in Lincolnshire – in the Listed 188Bet Alan Swinbank Mares’ National Hunt Flat Race which is a permanent memorial to the Yorkshire trainer who died suddenly last May.
The five-year-old mare – whose owners include the racecourse’s General Manager Nadia Powell and Jockey Club Racecourses North West Regional Director John Baker, who is in charge of Aintree Racecourse - is bidding for a second victory in just three races.
Thirteen horses have been entered for the £20,000 memorial race over an extended two miles, named after Alan Swinbank who made his mark on the Flat and over jumps during a training career in which he sent out nearly 800 winners in Britain.
Less than a week after Mr Swinbank’s death last year, his partner Sally Haynes – who took over the training licence at the north Yorkshire stables – sent out Brecon Hill for a poignant victory in a bumper race at Market Rasen. During his training career, which stretched back to 1982, Alan Swinbank saddled 25 winners at Market Rasen – at an excellent winner-to-runner ratio of 27 per cent.
Nadia Powell, General Manager of Market Rasen Racecourse, said: “Alan Swinbank was a good friend of Market Rasen Racecourse and we always enjoyed welcoming him with his horses to run here. He was a brilliant trainer of racehorses and enjoyed considerable success.
“Our race-goers were thrilled when Sally Haynes sent out the yard’s first winner following Alan’s untimely death last spring. We are most pleased when the Swinbank family accepted our offer to stage a permanent race in his memory at our first meeting of 2018.
“My fellow owners and I are delighted to be running our horse Rococo Style in the inaugural running of the race on Wednesday.”
Although Sally Haynes doesn’t have a runner in the mares’ ‘bumper’, she has entered Deep Resolve in a hurdle race at 1.30pm.
The afternoon also features the £20,000 Weatherbys Racing Bank Graduation Chase in which champion jumps trainer Nicky Henderson could run O O Seven, while Market Rasen Racecourse ambassador, jockey Sean Bowen, could partner Minella Daddy for his father, the trainer Peter Bowen. Three Musketeers won the corresponding race 12 months ago and is set to run again.
Adult tickets on the first County Raceday of the year are just £10 for adults when purchased in advance. Accompanied under 18s are admitted free of charge.
The first race time is scheduled for 12.30pm and more details can be found at http://marketrasen.thejockeyclub.co.uk
Market Rasen Racecourse, which is part of The Jockey Club, is staging 22 jump racing meetings in 2018 and is a leading conference and events centre in the East Midlands. It has been chosen by the Racehorse Owners Association as one of the top six smaller racecourses in Britain for the last three years. More information is available at www.marketrasenraces.co.uk