Lingfield marks milestone fixture with valuable card
0 Comments | Racing Post (London, England), The, Oct 29, 2009
Byline: Simon Milham
IT WAS a concept that changed the face of British racing and today Lingfield celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first all-weather meeting with a card that demonstrates how far racing on ‘the sand’ has come.
Today’s highlights include two Listed fillies’ races worth pounds 40,000 each and prize-money on the day is pounds 113,600, with longstanding sponsors Ladbrokes, Totesport, Barry Dennis, Coral and the EBF supporting the seven-race card.
Niklas Angel won the first all-weather race at Lingfield’s ten-race card on October 30, 1989, and Arena Leisure marks the occasion with admission prices at the 1989 level of pounds 5, while anyone who is still in possession of a racecard from the opening day will receive free admission.
Awards will be presented to a jockey, a trainer and a horse’s owner or trainer for special recognition of an outstanding contribution to all-weather racing.
Among the equine nominees are the Charlie Elsey-trained Rapporteur, who won five times at Lingfield in 1990, Vortex (who won 11 times on the sand), China Castle (successful 25 times), Gentleman’s Deal (nine victories) and the Philip Mitchelltrained Running Stag, whose 1998 Winter Derby victory was the catalyst for his globetrotting exploits.
Mitchell said: “We bought him with the express purpose of exploring the National Geographic magazine and Stag enabled us to hammock with stand do just that.
“Without all-weather racing, which has been a tremendous boon for this country, none of that would have been possible. It’s superb that Arena are marking the anniversary in this way.”
As 20-year anniversaries traditionally have a china theme, specially commissioned china plates will be presented to the winners of each award category.
Jockeys in the running for an award are Eddie Ahern, Neil Callan, Chris Catlin, Jimmy Quinn and Jason Weaver, while David Barron, Mark Johnston, Gay Kelleway, Nick Littmoden and Gary Moore are the nominees in the training ranks.
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Lingfield: celebrates 20th anniversary of first all-weather meeting, held on October 30, 1989