Four was the magic number at the Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival sponsored by Sky Bet last week.
The festival which took place across Yorkshire’s courses had both a leading jockey and trainer competition with both being won with four winners.
Tim Easterby took the leading trainer title, sponsored by Goldsborough Hall, with a double at Ripon on the opening day, followed up by a win at Redcar the next day and a winner at Doncaster on Thursday evening. He was joined at the top of the leader board by Richard Fahey and Phil Kirby, but his tally of seven seconds during the week meant that he won on countback.
Sky Bet sponsored the leading jockey award which went to Kevin Stott for the first time. He accumulated four wins at Doncaster and York and while Duran Fentiman also rode four winners during the week, Kevin also won on countback.
A sporting competition of a different variety took place daily before racing with a jockeys’ football skills competition called “Paddock and Chips”. Jockeys scored points by chipping footballs into a net and by the end of the week there were joint winners with three jockeys on four points. Rowan Scott, Jason Hart and Ben Curtis demonstrated the best footwork and claimed the victory.
The Roger Fell yard were the runaway winners of the best turned out horse award, where the yard who won the most best turned out horse prizes in the Sky Bet sponsored races throughout the week won £1,000 to share between the staff, plus a pizza party. Taking this award no less than five times the hard work of the stable staff at the Nawton yard will be rewarded over the summer.
And it’s not just the race winners that were recognised. The Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival sponsored by Sky Bet throws up so many great moments that a new award of ‘moment of the day’ was introduced this year, culminating in ‘moment of the week’. This was awarded to Duran Fentiman for riding a treble in the last three races on the opening day at Ripon.
Charlotte Russell, General Manager of Go Racing In Yorkshire said,
“We’ve had a blast! The Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival sponsored by Sky Bet showcases everything that racing in Yorkshire has to offer. We’ve had evening meetings, weekend fixtures, family days, music nights, top quality racing and a few added extras. There has been a real buzz around the racecourses and I hope everyone has enjoyed the week as much as we have.”
One of the themes running through the week was Yorkshire’s close association with the founding stallions and this was highlighted at Doncaster, where Sound of Iona, one of the few remaining descendants from the Byerley Turk bloodline was a winner.
The Gin Tin was on hand to provide Yorkshire refreshments for racegoers and of course it wouldn’t be the Summer Festival without Festival Freddie who enjoyed meeting racegoers.
The provisional dates for next year’s meeting is Saturday, July 22 – Sunday, July 30 2023.
