As part of
the celebrations for the Injured Jockeys Fund’s 50 year anniversary we have put together 50
facts about 1964 - the year that was - as well as about the history of the
IJF. These are really worth a read and give fascinating historical context e.g. in the year the IJF was set up Nelson
Mandela was sent to prison for life and Top of the Pops first aired on the BBC!
1964 was
also the year that Arkle won the first of his three Cheltenham Gold Cups and to
commemorate this, Racing Post Books have published a special anniversary
edition of Sean Magee’s celebrated book Arkle: The Story of the World’s
Greatest Steeplechaser.
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| 'Himself' |
The Racing
Post also sponsor the Arkle so we are all looking forward to Cheltenham next
Tuesday. We are particularly delighted
that Arkle’s groom, Johnny Lumley, will be joining us for the day. Johnny had no previous experience
with horses before going to Tom Dreaper’s yard; never sat on any horse during
his time with Dreaper; also looked after Flyingbolt, the second-highest rated
chaser ever (Arkle was highest); left racing soon after Arkle retired and
worked in various jobs, but nothing again in racing.
He has many fascinating stories to tell… As well as
presenting the trophy for the race with Racing Post’s CEO, Alan Byrne, we have
put together a programme of on course media for him the day – so look out for
him and his stories on C4, 5 Live and talkSport.
Cheltenham
is always such an exciting week, although with JT McNamara’s terrible fall last
year, this year there will be an added sense of poignancy. I remember spending Gold Cup day in the
weighing room last year working with the racecourse, Dr Adrian McGoldrick, Lisa
Hancock, the BHA and in liaison with the hospital, as we dealt with the huge
media spotlight that turned to Cheltenham and to racing after JT’s
life-changing fall the day before.
A year on, JT
now continues his rehabilitation at the North West Regional
Spinal Injuries Centre in Southport. In
spite of his situation, he is in excellent spirits and looking forward to
watching the Festival. His plight is yet
another reminder of why the IJF was set up in 1964 and how important its work always
has been and will continue to be.
I was personally thrilled this week by the entries
for this year’s Martin Wills Writing Awards, which at 140 were 50% up on the
year before. I have been working in
conjunction with Jack Cantillon in Ireland to develop the reach of the awards
with PR and social media activity and we are so pleased that this seems to have
produced a really good strength and depth of entry. The awards will now be judged and Jilly Cooper has
kindly agreed to come to Newmarket on 16th April to present the prizes
to the three winners. Jilly and I will
take the opportunity to have a night away at my favourite hotel, the Bedford
Lodge (home from home in 2009 as Richard Dunwoody walked up and down the road
for 1000 hours!), and no doubt we will go and visit a trainer or a stud for
research for Jilly’s next book – and she will ask a few interesting questions
that have never been asked before (she is still the Queen of the ‘bonkbuster’
after all!)
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| On our last Newmarket trip Jilly and I went to visit an old friend! |
In mentioning Richard Dunwoody, he was on R4 Midweek
on Wednesday and his interview is really worth a listen as he talks about some
of the far flung places he has been to recently in his new career as a photo
journalist. He also mentions the Mongol Derby, that he will work on again in August this
year, and for which I have just started the PR.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03wpzmr
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03wpzmr
One of my PR ‘riders’ in the Mongol Derby, Csgt Rob Skinner, is also riding
in the Grand Military at Sandown today and I am off there this afternoon to cheer
him on!
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