Hospitality & racing diary - July
27th July
We always enjoy Ladies Night at Royal Windsor Racecourse and Monday night was no different, the hats were out and so were the wonderful dresses.
The star prize for the "Best Dressed Lady" was a trip for 2 to Malta supplied by Chevron Holidays of Windsor and it certainly attracted a host of contestants vying for the judge's attention, I never get to select the actual winner but it's great fun working with my team of spotters to choose the finalists. This year we had to steer clear of supermodel Edie Campbell who was enjoying a night out at the races with friends.
After a frantic selection process our finalists took to the Winner's Enclosure and to the delight of the crowd, local resident and annual member Lorna Holliday pipped Maria Cheslin and Sandra Hanson to the star prize.
We had a lot of "Maidens" on Monday night and the high quality of horses taking their opening bow for the season showed as there were very smart looking fillies and colts on view resulting in good race times and horses to note for the future.
The first maiden race was won by "Otto the Great"
trained by Walter Swinburn, "Artistic Jewel" won the
second one but surely the most impressive win was by the Ryan Moore
ridden and Sir Michael Stoute trained "Dumbarton" who
cruised to victory in the final maiden.
"Bianca De Medici", "Colinca's Lad" and
"Little Jazz" completed the winners on the night before
racing favorites "The Wickermen" took to the stage and
closed a wonderful Ladies Night of racing and music.
We next race on Monday 1st August, the first race is at 6.10pm and gates open at 4.10pm- come racing!
You can follow windsorraces on Twitter and Facebook.
Racing hospitality packages are selling fast for August, for information on racing hospitality packages contact sukey.sherritt@windsor-racecourse.co.uk
20th July
Ronnie Scott's Night on Monday was a bit damp!
The racing was as competitive as ever with "Eagle Nebula" taking the "Chris Dagley Memorial" by a neck from the favourite "Urban Kode" who was bought back in for £4800 by connections in the sale after the race.
"One Hit Wonder" was anything but in the National Brain Appeal and ASOS Handicap; he won a Newbury last time and looks on course for a quick return to the winners enclosure as he may well be just ahead of the handicapper.
"Free Verse" finished ahead of the useful looking David Elsworth pair of "Elusive Flame" and "Salford Art" in the third race, owner by The Queen, "Free Verse" looks to have a very bright future indeed.
"Sirius Prospect" 7/2f won the Sportingbet.com Handicap, in command throughout the margin of 1 length at the line is a little misleading as the gelding won with a fair bit in hand.
"Anatolian" showed why Frankie Dettori had travelled for 1 ride , despite drifting in the betting 9/4 out to 11/4 he rallied under a strong ride to take the Ronnie Scott's Maiden on the line by a head.
The final race on card "The Penguin Classic" was run in near darkness as the clouds threatened overhead however that did not stop "Regal Salute" showing the way home by the widest margin of the night, winning by 4 lengths she could have won by more and if turned out quickly should win again next time.
We next race on Monday 15th July Ladies Night, with fantastic prizes for our "Best Dressed Lady, "Best Dressed Couple" and "Best Dressed Man" the first race is at 6.10pm and gates open at 4.10pm- come racing!
You can follow windsorraces on Twitter and Facebook.
Racing hospitality packages are selling fast for August, for information on racing hospitality packages contact sukey.sherritt@windsor-racecourse.co.uk
15th July
Irish night never fails to live to up expectations, The Irish Guards were back in force welcoming racegoers with drums and bagpipes as they wandered the Paddock Lawn, Murphy's Marbles kept the crowd jigging throughout the evening and The legendary Saw Doctors rounded off the entertainment with a stunning performance after racing had drawn to a close.
"Cruise Tothelimit" won our first race on the card at 11/4, he wasn't in front until it mattered most when as the line loomed he stuck his neck out to win by that margin.
Christina's twitter tip won the second race, the aptly named "Chunky Diamond" getting up to win by ½ length, most likely propelled by the screaming from the offices!
"Dew Reward" rewarded eagle eyed paddock watchers, John Reid had pointed out the superb condition of the gelding during the preliminaries and at 10/1 was a very good piece of advice. "Dew Reward" was bought back in after the race and is probably to be seen in another selling race very soon.
"Compton" justified favouritism at 4/1 for a very promising debut, trainer Ralph Beckett likes this colt and I am sure we will be hearing a bit more about it as the season goes on.
"Totheendoftheearth" was very heavily backed all day and did not disappoint winning at 2/1 with Ryan Moore on board, she is one to follow and the race looks to have been a strong one with winners expected from the minor places in the future.
"Lady Gabrielle" won the last at a very handsome 9/2, she only has one eye and was pointed as a future winner in my diary a few weeks ago. She won well and with the hospitality boxes and VIP guests having a pointer to her chances earlier in the evening there were a lot of happy faces in the balcony - most notable was Zoe Salmon who was seen queuing for her winnings as the Saw Doctors took to the stage!
We next race on Monday 18th July Ronnie Scott's Night: the
first race is at 6.10pm and gates open at 4.10pm- come racing!
You can follow windsorraces on Twitter and Facebook.
Racing hospitality packages are selling fast for August, for information on racing hospitality packages contact sukey.sherritt@windsor-racecourse.co.uk
