HAVING A LAUGH FOR COMIC RELIEF
09/03/2009
Having a laugh for Comic Relief at Sandown Park
A successful weekend at Sandown Park saw two days of top quality horseracing, fundraising and entertainment, which was enjoyed by almost 7,000 racegoers on Saturday, an increase of 25% on the number of visitors to the Esher venue on the same day last year.
Saturday saw Sandown Park get into the spirit of this year’s Comic Relief theme, “Do Something Funny For Money”, by replacing some of the jockey’s usual four-legged friends, the racehorses, with spacehoppers. A highly competitive and amusing race around the paddock saw top jockeys Sam Thomas, Tom Scudamore, Timmy Murphy and Robert “Choc” Thornton, along with Channel 4 presenters, Alice Plunkett and John Francome, take part in the fundraiser and it was team Scudamore and Thomas that pipped the rest to the post. There were plenty of laughs along the way as spacehoppers, contestants and red noses went flying but more importantly, a grand total of £1,875 was raised for Comic Relief by Sandown Park and Paddy Power!
With the prestigious Cheltenham Festival starting tomorrow, racegoers were also treated to a special complimentary preview panel following the racing. Professional punter Dave Nevison, trainer Nicky Henderson, Andy Stewart, owner of top quality horses Big Bucks, Tatenen and Celestial Halo and bookmaker Paddy Power, along with compere Brough Scott discussed the upcoming Championship races in great detail and hopefully provided the 500 racegoers who stayed on at the course with a few useful tips ahead of the four day bonanza.
The action on the track on Saturday saw Dave’s Dream, trained by Nicky Henderson, win the Paddy Power Imperial Cup by seven lengths from the favourite Seven Is My Number. Paddy Power, the sponsors of the race for the first time this year, will pay the winning connections a bonus of £75,000 if their horse goes on to win any race at the upcoming Festival. However, the trainer is undecided as yet as to whether he will let his six-year-old return to the racecourse twice in one week.
The charity, Retraining of Racehorses, work tirelessly to retain horses that have finished their careers on the racecourse and some of their most successful horses were parading at the course on Saturday. Those parading included ex-racehorses that have found new careers in polo, hunting, eventing and dressage. Even more special, Make A Stand, winner of the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in 2007, Celibate, a Grade 1 winner in Ireland and Blowing Wind were part of the parade.
David Mackinnon, Managing Director of Sandown Park commented, “We have had an excellent couple of days racing, with fantastic action from the track, lots of entertainment for our customers and significant increase in the number of people visiting Sandown Park over the two days, compared to last year.”
Friday 6th March saw the 168th running of the Grand Military Gold Cup, which was won easily by the favourite Oakfield Legend under amateur jockey Lieutenant-Brigadier Sally Randell. The race is unique in that only members of the armed forces may ride in the race.
The bet365 Gold Cup Meeting, one of the pinnacle race meetings at Sandown Park, takes place on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April and will include a live concert from The Saw Doctors. Tickets start at only £24 and as always, under 16’s go free. For further information please visit www.sandown.co.uk or call 01372 47 00 47.
