Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu receives ‘ambassador’ accolade at tourism awards – York Ebor Horse racing Festival

TOURISM chiefs hailed the Archbishop of York the answer to their prayers when they presented him with the top award at a major ceremony.

The annual York Tourism Awards, organised by Visit York, were held at the National Railway Museum last night, to celebrate excellence in the city’s crucial tourism industry.

Fourteen winners, picked from hundreds of entries, were presented with their awards at the event hosted by writer and broadcaster Gervase Phinn.

The award for Tourism Ambassador 2010 went to Dr John Sentamu for the role he plays both nationally and internationally in putting York on the map.

Since his arrival in the city in 2005, visitors have met the Archbishop offering open-air baptisms, he has visited flood victims in Cumbria and made visits overseas.

Visit York chairman John Yeomans said: “The Archbishop has contributed greatly to raising the profile of the city and we’re delighted he has accepted this award in recognition of the work he does both in York and across the globe.”

Last year he rode My Will, a Paul Nicholls horse, but could only manage 3rd. However, this year he’s on the favorite, Big Fella Thanks, who also happens to be trained by Nicholls. Big Fella Thanks had a great race last year as he finished 6th at the tender age of 7 so with Ruby Walsh in charge he might live up to his billing.

Tony McCoy, who this year is riding Don’t Push It, is one of the greatest jockeys of the modern era with over 3000 career wins which have brought him virtually every prize going except the coveted Grand National. Racing in the Aintree Grand National 2010 will mark the 15th time he has attempted the course so he is more than familiar with it but so far has only managed 3rd place.

Sam Twiston-Davies may not be a celebrated jockey but he’s making plenty of headlines for the Aintree Grand National 2010. At 17-years-old he’s competing to become the youngest winner since Bruce Hobbs won with Battleship in 1938. Hobbs was also aged 17 at the time. He’s riding a decent horse in Hello Bud, trained by his father Nigel, but his inexperience may take its toll.

Dr Sentamu, who was unable to attend the award ceremony in person, said it was a “great honour”.

He said: “York is one of the greatest cities in Britain. It’s not just the great tourist attractions we have here like the Minster, the Jorvik Viking Centre and the Railway Museum that draw people into the city – no, I put it down to the incredible people we have here in York. Yorkshire people may be famous for being straight talking, but they are also renowned for being warm-spirited, kind-hearted and very welcoming to our visitors. I think that’s the main reason people keep coming back – and also one of the main reasons I have won this award!”

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Grand National Festival Hospitality 2010

The one annual race to inspire uncertainty in the betting community has, due to the consistent occurrence of unlikely winners, become the Aintree Grand Nationa Festival.

Since 1928, horses that have provoked a lack of confidence have come through and achieved the improbable, horses such as Tipperary Tim (100/1) and Gregalach at the same odds began the trend with last years winner; Mon Mome, entering with same odds, capping the run at 5 unlikely runners to achieve success.

For this year’s event 65 runners remain, after the 5 day confirmation stage, raising the total prize money for the race to £925,000.

Three previous winners could enter the race including; Mon Mome and Comply or Die, with possible inclusion of Silver Birch

Silver Birch trainer Gordon Elliott made this confident comment about the horses status in the race, “Silver Birch will run in the John Smith’s Grand National if he gets in otherwise he’ll go for the John Smith’s Topham Chase on Friday. Robbie Power will ride him,”

This 2010 race will see a huge entry from Irish trained horses such as Silver Birch with other entries; War Of Attrition, Vic Venturi, Black Apalachi and Notre Pere attracting increasing interest in the Irish team.

The betting community’s main area of concern is the jockey choice for many of the runners. One such trainer, Howard Johnson, has yet to pick jockeys for both Royal Rosa and Ryan Mania, “Both the horses are both really well. I took them down to the sea at Redcar this morning and they loved it. I’ll be schooling them over Grand National fences at home on Wednesday and I’ll decide then about the jockeys,”

Enduring champion Tony McCoy has yet to make a decision on which runner he will take into the race, but it seems his choice may have been narrowed to Don’t Push It or Can’t Buy Time. It has, however, been reported that Ruby Walsh has been confirmed as jockey for favorite runner, Big Fella Thanks.

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2010 GRAND NATIONAL AT AINTREE LONG SHOT TIPS AND SELECTIONS

We’ve already covered some of the favourites in the build-up to the 2010 Grand National at Aintree this weekend and we certainly learned last year that you definitely cannot bank on the top contenders when it comes to the drama and excitement of the no holds barred Grand National Festival.

First on the list is the talented and in-form Chief Dan George who is priced at around 25/1 with most major bookmakers. You’ll find him as high as 33/1. He’s looking for his third win on the bounce having scored at Doncaster against a solid field in late February and then nailed a solid win on one of the biggest stages in jumps racing when he took the Grade 3 William Hill Trophy at Cheltenham. He’ll be looking to stay in contention for much of the race and then press on with a proper charge over the last 100 yards. In my opinion, if he’s still standing at the end of the hurdles then it is game on for Chief Dan George. He can handle the distance and he can recover from errors better than most, so if you’re looking for a longer odds selection this might be your best bet.

My Will was last year’s favourite and the punters seem to have learned their lesson with the Paul Nicholls-trained gelding. He ran third last year and that bodes well for his ability to stay the course and run an error-free Grand National. You’ll find him priced at a lengthy 40/1 this time out- better than the 8/1 favourite he ran as last year. He ran seventh in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and acquitted himself about as well as you’d expect. Definitely a contender, and is a solid each-way shout at 40/1.

Flintoff is an interesting outside bet who has only raced twice in past year and a half. You’ll find him as high as 100/1 and if you think that the National is going to be won by back-to-back 100/1+ jumpers then this might be your selection. He’s got some respectable results and looks a bit sharper than a lot of the other longer-odds competition. He’s lightly-raced and could be poised to make a real statement here with the right type of trip. He’s more in danger of being pulled up than he is to fall. He’s never tackled a Grand National before and could be a contender if the stars align.

Beat the Boys is a solid shout if you’re looking for a long-odds selection. The Nigel Twiston-Davies-owned grey gelding has won every race this season where he hasn’t been pulled up. Unfortunately, he’s been pulled up in 3 of his 5 races. If he can handle the gruelling distance and stay on his feet, then he’s a solid bet at the 100/1 price you’ll find him at. A long shot, but these types of low-key contenders have made serious statements in the past.

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Dream Alliance searching for Hollywood ending in Grand National

There was no action on the track here at Chepstow yesterday but the roar from one of the grandstand boxes would have graced any race day. On a television in the newly christened Dream Alliance Suite the horse after whom the room is named had just taken the lead with three to jump in a re-run of the Welsh National and his 22 owners were enjoying the moment again.

It was a neat piece of timing by the racecourse to honour the horse, a local hero, in this way, four days before he is due to line up for the Grand National Festival. Some members of the Alliance Partnership came here from their homes in Cefn Fforest, 17 miles north of Cardiff, and will go straight on to Liverpool, where they plan to make a big week of it.

Vokes got the idea while running a social club, where she overheard one of her customers bemoaning the large sums of money he had lost from a venture into ownership many years before. Howard Davies, a tax advisor relaxing after a game of squash, was stunned to find himself being pumped for information that would help Vokes achieve her latest ambition.

"So I said, 'You need two things: a field and a mare.' She said, 'I've got a field, I need to get the mare.' So I said, 'Get a copy of the Turf Directory and then we go from there,' thinking she'd go away. The following Thursday the Turf Directory landed on the bar. 'Now what do we do?'"

Vokes seems quiet and reserved as she deals with the media attention that Dream Alliance has brought her but Davies immediately realised she was "fairly resolute". With regret he was persuaded to abandon the promise he had made his wife that he would never again get involved with racehorses.

The syndicate members a disparate band, including a painter and decorator, a car washer, a former Provident collector and several tax workers – thoroughly deserved their moment of glory when the chestnut won the Welsh National here in December, even though they came close to saddling him with the name Lost Youth. Some two years ago, when he sustained a tendon injury at Aintree, there had been unanimous agreement that every effort must be made to help him recover, regardless of cost.

They may be the best-behaved owners in racing, having abided by an agreement not to pester their trainer, Philip Hobbs, for the past two weeks with inquiries about Dream Alliance's wellbeing. Until the final entries are made on Thursday, Hobbs will call Davies only if he has to pass on bad news.

"Every time my mobile goes I'm worried but as long as 'Philip Hobbs' doesn't come up on the screen, I'm delighted," Davies says. "If the Dream Alliance that turned up here for the Welsh National turns up at Aintree, in the same frame of mind, he's probably got a top-five chance. I think he'll relish the fences.

"He seems to rise to the crowds. He loves attention but in a sort of laid-back way. Everybody's affected by him, when they see him, especially kids. They can walk underneath him, you can touch his head, you can do anything with him and he doesn't move, he's a gentleman.

"When you go to see him after a race, if he's run well, he knows. Here at the Welsh, the runners were coming out for the next race and he was still having his photo taken."

Davies has struck a deal with a firm of Hollywood producers, who may now make a film of the Dream Alliance story.All that is required from the National is a happy ending.

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Silver Birch spruced up for Aintree repeat : Royal Ascot 2010

Hopes are increasing that Silver Birch can become the first horse since Red Rum to win a second Royal Ascot Festival. It is 36 years since the great Aintree warrior notched his second success in the race that he came to dominate like no other. 'Rummy' then went on to take an historic third National in 1977, but there has not been a multiple winner since.

Clearly, nobody is suggesting Silver Birch is another Red Rum, but in the modern context, he comes close to being the perfect type for the gruelling 4½-mile contest, and on Tuesday, trainer Gordon Elliott welcomed news that the 13-year-old had been elevated to No 41 on the list of confirmations for Saturday’s big race.

Three weeks ago, Elliott was bemoaning the fact that his 2008 National winner looked like missing the cut. He made the not unreasonable recommendation that past winners of the race should be seeded entries, which is something the Aintree executive would be advised to consider at their annual overview in coming weeks.

Horses have dropped by the wayside recently, which now leaves Silver Birch only one away from getting into the 40-capacity field. He is currently a 66-1 chance, but that price will shrink with confirmation that he has gained a place in the field. He could be a solid each-way chance, particularly on Elliott’s reports of the gelding’s home work this week, and with his light weight of 10st 5lb.

“He’s in great form. We worked him this morning and he did it well,” Elliott said. “The day before, we erected a special National fence at home and he really loved it. He should be in his element returning to Aintree. Robbie Power will ride him again on Saturday,” the trainer confirmed.

Punters would be best advised to forget Silver Birch’s last run, at Cheltenham in the Cross Country last month, when he was beaten 57 lengths. He lasted a long way in the Festival novelty race, and seems to have been brought to his peak for this weekend.

Elliott had a similar message regarding stablemate and 25-1 chance Backstage, who was beaten 81 lengths on heavy ground at Navan at the end of last month. The distance (2½ miles) and the going were both against the eight-year-old. “On faster, better ground, he will be much better. Dry ground is the key to him, and if it were to come up soft, then he would be doubtful to run,” the trainer pointed out.

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York Racecourse's James Brennan looking to go one better this year

Beating the record-breaking 2009 season is the challenge for York Racecourse this year, as head of marketing and sponsorship James Brennan tells STEVE CARROLL.

THEY could not have asked for a better year. Record crowds, two massive Saturday meetings, and the world’s best racehorse Sea The Stars capping the campaign with a fabulous Juddmonte International victory.

That’s the focus for the team at York Racecourse as they begin to gear up for their 17-day season on Knavesmire, which starts on May 12 with the three-day Dante Festival.

With Royal Ascot at York, the St Leger Festival and a four-day York Ebor Festival in the bank over the past half-dozen years, the feeling of “looking to go one better” is hardly new.

And, if anything, they relish the challenge.

“You always have to keep moving forward,” says James Brennan, York’s head of marketing and sponsorship. “2009 was a fantastic season, particularly coming after the disappointments of 2008.

“It was fantastic to see the trackwork project up and running and meet with approval from so many better judges than me. It was fantastic to see the world’s best racehorse Sea The Stars – the crowd really welcomed him back as a true champion, not just a winning favourite.

“It’s important to us that people come and support us and we are grateful for that because it all gets reinvested back into racing at York whether it is boosting prize money or capping attendance fees. It can only come on the back of people’s support and we are conscious of the need to keep earning that.”

The off-season saw York picking up gong after gong. They were hailed by the Racegoers Club, named the country’s top Flat course by the Racehorse Owners’ Association and their groundstaff were also praised with an industry award.

This year, the four-day Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival, running from Tuesday, August 17 to Friday, August 20, remains the ace in York’s pack, with the Juddmonte International, totesport Ebor, Darley Yorkshire Oaks and Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes the feature contests.

World Cup action should be a highlight of the 40th Charity Day, on Saturday, June 12, with England kicking off their challenge for the trophy against the USA following a meeting which has raised more than £4.7 million for cancer charities. Brennan reckons there is much to look forward to.

“It will be great to be coming back racing,” he added. “We are looking forward to seeing Madness perform. There’s always a buzz going into the season and you will start hearing talk about the St Nicholas Abbeys and the other horses that are set to come and run in May and will come back to us again in August.

“The experience of 2009 for most of the 80,000 people who attended the first four-day Ebor Festival was a positive one and we will come on for the run, as they say.

“You wouldn’t work at a racecourse without looking forward to the season. Every year, we have had some different things to do. It’s a great industry to be involved in on racedays.

“There is a real pride when the alarm clock goes off, you come in and the place is waking up. By the time racegoers and horses arrive it is a buzz. We will make sure we are ready.”

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Soft ground lovers may be those to concentrate on in Glorious Goodwood Horseracing Festival

Whinstone Boy worth a punt as rain continues to fall ahead of Glorious Goodwood Horseracing on Tuesday

Soft ground now seems increasingly assured for Tuesday Glorious Goodwood Horseracing meeting and conditions at Goodwood Racecourse will be markedly different to those at the Cheltenham Festival.

"Thankfully, the forecast is for the weather to improve in the second half of next week, but there are more showers due between now and then and it clearly looks as if it's going to be on the soft side," said the clerk of the course, Andrew Tulloch. "The grass is two to three weeks behind where we would want it to be. We take a lot of pride in making the surface as good as it can be, but the snow badly interrupted the grass growth."

Testing conditions would surely lead to a major shake-up in the betting. The favourite, Big Fella Thanks, won in atrocious conditions at Doncaster last season, while Mon Mome should also be fine, but the likes of Backstage, Can't Buy Time and State of Play would surely be disadvantaged.

Whinstone Boy, a noted mudlark, needs 14 higher-weighted horses to come out if he is to get a run but as long as he is declared, backers will have their stakes refunded even if he fails to make the final line-up. The downside to backing him at 33‑1 with William Hill looks minimal if the rain continues to fall as predicted.

Smith's-sponsored showpiece. It brings heartbreak for Jamie Codd, the amateur jockey who will now lose his dream mount.

That decision would once have been the province of Tony McCoy, these days retained by J.P.McManus. The champion owner has his usual multiple entry, for a race neither he nor his celebrated jockey has won, and McCoy's lengthy cogitations have had significant effects on the ante-post market.

Desert Orchid, easily the best of the British victors, was another to prove that class will out when he scored under 12st, giving between 26lb and 28lb to 13 rivals in 1990. There have been less distinguished winners, though, even bizarre ones. If Brown Lad was the Irish National's equivalent of Red Rum, then possibly its Foinavon may be found in Alike, successful in 1929 when ridden by Frank Wise, who was missing three fingers and rode with a wooden leg.

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Character Building is sold before Grand National bid - Grand National Festival

The Grand National Festival is a drug win one and you can think only of winning another. Just ask Nigel Twiston-Davies or Venetia Williams, who try respectively for a third and second win at Aintree on Saturday. Or ask David and Patricia Thompson, who yesterday purchased a ready-made National runner, hoping to replicate a previously triumphant method.

The Thompsons own Cheveley Park Stud in Newmarket. Their business is breeding Flat horses. But a love of jumping is embodied by the National dream, finessed to fruition when they bought Party Politics just three days before his victory in 1992.

They have not cut it quite so fine this time. Character Building, trained in Yorkshire by John Quinn and already a Cheltenham Festival winner, was sold at the weekend to race in Mrs Thompson's colours in the John

“The new owners have asked that a professional ride the horse and enquiries are being made,” Quinn said. Those inquiries are likely to be fielded by jump racing's dominant agent, Dave Roberts, whose clients still without a National ride include Richard Johnson and Robert Thornton.

Other jockeys remain spoilt for choice. Timmy Murphy is to school a number of horses at David Pipe's Somerset stable today and discuss whether to remain loyal to Comply Or Die - the winner in 2008 and runner-up last year - or desert him for the lighter-weighted The Package, also owned by his employer, David Johnson.

Arbor Supreme and Can't Buy Time have already been the subject of public gambles - or bookmaker pragmatism - after rumours of McCoy's affiliation. The latest to get the treatment is Don't Push It, an increasingly likely choice if soft ground prevails, as seems probable.

Richie McLernon is awaiting McCoy's reject, with Graham Lee engaged for whichever Johnson-owned horse Murphy discards. The betting market will follow such decisions, while other horses to come in for weekend support included two that won over the National fences last April.

Irish Raptor graduates from the Topham Trophy and is the choice of Paddy Brennan from six intended runners in the Nigel Twiston-Davies yard. Another, the Scottish National victor Hello Bud, will be partnered by the trainer's schoolboy son, Sam.

A decision is expected today on whether the Gold Cup winner, Imperial Commander, will reappear in the totesport Bowl on Thursday. “I'm keen to run but the owners are not yet convinced,” Twiston-Davies said. Khyber Kim, runner-up for the yard in the Champion Hurdle, is an intended starter in the Aintree Hurdle on Saturday, when the opposition will include Zaynar.

Mon Mome was 100-1 when he won the National for Willliams last year but he could be a single-figure price as he bids to become the first since Red Rum to defend the crown successfully. Meanwhile, his trainer turns her attentions to a foreign National today, dispatching two horses from Herefordshire for the Irish version.

Aidan Coleman, the stable jockey who chose wrongly when partnering Stan instead of Mon Mome at Aintree, will ride Officier De Reserve rather than Flintoff, part-owned by the cricketer of the same name.

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