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Hospitality & racing diary - June

24th June 2011

At 0-2 I got a bit worried, the Royal Windsor Racing Club had looked strong on paper against Bray for the Annual Cricket challenge!

The reality is Bray are a great team with strength in depth and a home pitch, our strength was in the glass and on twitter. Moose (Ian Abrahams) supported digitally and Radio1 DJ and Patron Greg James rushed from London taking to the crease at number 8, he played very well and really added a bit of spice to the day!

However Bray retained the challenge with 5 wickets and 5 overs to spare ending a wonderful day with a superb BBQ as the sun dipped behind the village church.

Racing on Monday night was a slightly different matter as the heavens had opened for most of the day and did not let up throughout the meeting, this turned the ground to good to soft which then changed during racing to soft.

The first race on the card saw a thrilling finish between the strongly fancied "Lady Gabrielle" and eventual winner "Zamina" who held on by a neck to win at 17/2. "Lady Gabrielle" only has one eye, David Elsworth picks up this type and normally does well so one for the notebook.

"Son Du Silence" won the 2nd race at 10/1; "Pearl Blue" the Ladbrokes Handicap at 10/1 and "Whistle On By" the John Sunley Memorial at 10/1, making 10/1 a very popular figure to follow!

Kieren Fallon then closed the evening with a quick fire end of racing double aboard "Shooting Line" 11/2 and in the finale aboard "Achalas" at 7/1, it has to be said a better report on his last 2 rides is a little bit difficult due to the races being run in near dark conditions!

We next race on 25th June, the first of our 3 day festival, The Overtones are playing live after racing.

We welcome Bob the Builder to our Family Fun Day on Sunday 26th June and we end the festival with our Cider Festival on Monday 27th June - tickets are still available for all dates.

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15th June 2011

Finally summer arrived!

After a weekend of rain, summer finally arrived at Royal Windsor Racecourse.

I am very proud of the Sausage Festival and for the second year running it seems our racegoers liked it as well the sun certainly shone on them!

You can't beat a banger and it seems you can't beat butchers Lewis of Sunningdale who for the second year in succession took home the title of "Windsor Sausage Festival Winner of 2011"; Nigel works so hard at his business and once again his work paid off.

4,000 sausages where served in the Sausage Village and I am now looking forward to next year's Sausage Festival which is firmly established in our racing calendar.

On to racing now, I really liked the way "Highland Castle" stuck his neck out in the Vestra Wealth Management Maiden Stakes, he was always handy and repaid those that took an early price of 8/1 to win at a 4/1. "Highland Castle" looks very smart and is one to follow.

The easiest winner of the night was "Sim Sala Bim" in the Vestra Wealth Private Client Handicap, William Carson could not have done it more easily and is pictured looking through his legs for non-existent dangers, very cheeky and a lovely ride!

"Red Art" carried Barry Hills hopes in the first and duly obliged by 4 ½ lengths in the first race at odds of 11/4. Michael Hills jumped off positively beaming and was overheard enthusing about the colt, he perhaps needs a bit of give in the ground but is sure to go in again.

The seller saw favourite "Aquasulis" hold on by a head from "Emma Jean" at 3/1 and in the ensuing auction was bought in for £9400; Emma Jean was "Friendly Claimed" for £8000.

I love the auctions, round and round they go and then at the last second someone bids, great fun and well worth a viewing if you get a chance, just make sure you don't wave at me!

We next race on 20th June. The first race is at 6.40pm - come racing!

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8th June 2011

South Africa Night South Africa Night was tough!

The weather really played its part before racing and changed the going which had been good to firm on Friday to good to soft on Monday!

With this change we normally get a lot of non-runners and this was the case on "South Africa Night" as numbers where depleted by the time of the first race.

That however did not stop there from being decent racing and great finishes, the best surely being the performance of "Prince of Sorrento" in the Sportingbet.com handicap who pulled clear to win very impressively by 4 ½ lengths at odds of 5/1 - the ground was certainly a factor and he should win again in softish conditions.

There was a lot of excitement on Twitter throughout the night as it seemed everyone was predicting which horses would win albeit without success!

I spoke to John Reid, John McCririck and Royal Windsor Racing Club Manager Kevin McCarthy who all offered advice for the last and the winner was John Reid who tipped "Muffraaj" ridden by Martin Dwyer.

John Reid "Muffraaj" crossed the line in glorious late evening sunshine at 2/1! The moral of the story here has to be that John Reid is a Derby winning Jockey, he offers guidance to our racegoers and regularly picks winners from the Parade Ring - John McCririck and Kevin did not stand a chance!