Yesterday saw the 344th running of the Newmarket Town Plate. By coincidence I was spending the week working for John Berry to gain some training experience. John's wife Emma has written a lovely piece about the build up to the race on her blog which you can read here. I'll put some of my own photos from the day up shortly, but suffice to say it was the perfect end to a great week.
I'm not Oddy, but I'm doing a course which requires you to have some practical experience in a training yard. I will say, if anyone here is considering putting a horse in training, I can't recommend John highly enough.
PN is there not a Newmarket whip race that is run in mid summer but carries no prize money,the whip apparently being the trophy. I remember it appearing at the tail end of racecards a few years with generally 2/3 runners..haven't noticed anything regarding the event publicised recently though.
Yes Dexter, it's run on the Rowley Mile in September and only horses owned by members of The Jockey Club are eligible to run. It's called The Newmarket Whip The first four jockeys home in the Town Plate get a box of Newmarket sausages plus a voucher for Goldings (a long established clothing shop in Newmarket). The winner gets a trophy too, obviously!
I have just looked up John Berry's website Princess and will say that he come across as a thoroughly likable man, I thought his opening statement on the homepage was very sincere and humble whilst good humour comes through on many pages. If we ever manage to purchase a forum yearling perhaps we can send it to him, I am sure it would be in kindly hands. There are a few like John Berry who you know work very hard and have lots of experience and you wish they could just find another dozen decent yearlings to give them some ammunition.
Thanks PN...Hard to beat a box of Newmarket snarlers...delicious. Blue,I also read that and he is obviously someone in the game for fun and not money. I have watched him on occasion on ATR and he is very modest,knowledgeable,insightful and more than a little familiar with the form book...reminds me of myself!!
He is very knowledgable, if a tad eccentric (he rides out in the mornings in shorts and wellies!). They only have 11 horses in training at the moment, but can take up to around 20. In a change from most other trainers, all his horses get some daily turnout so that they can chill out and just be horses. He has a small field at the back of his yard and horses either go out for the afternoon or overnight, with no segregation between the geldings and mares (he has no colts). They run ZAROSA at Newcastle tomorrow and probably ETHICS GIRL in the next week or so. ROY ROCKET, third at Lingfield last week, will definitely be winning soon.
I ought to add, John is worth following on Twitter, if you are into that sort of thing! He is @johnwathenberry The horses turned out this evening
I ought to add, and then I'll stop plugging John's yard, that John is taking part in the Newmarket Open Day next month (22 September) so if any of you are planning on coming to town for the day I highly recommend you visit his yard. More info on the open day here
I don't think so Oddy. If you mean ex-trainer Jack Berry he's alive and kicking as far as I know - I was chatting to him just 3 weeks ago!
I'll be in Newmarket that day anyway PN - some questions: What times are the stables open? What is "the Rowley Mile Show"? How do you find which stables are participating and locate them? What is the "closing" time on the event? Any free tickets? Thanks!
Reebok, the tickets are £13 each if booked in advance or £16 on the day. Under 12s go free and parking is also free. There are no freebies as it is a charity event. The stables open 9.30am till 12.30pm but the gallops are open from 9am-10am, though there's nothing to stop you arriving earlier and watching the horses work, though there will be no commentary until 9am. The day finishes at 4pm and the Rowley Mile Show is a series of entertainments from 1.30pm at the racecourse with things like mounted games, Shetland pony grand national, trainers v jockeys football match, trade stands, etc. This link will show you which trainers are signed up so far, plus a map showing their locations.
