Beer And Horse Racing At Hereford

Two of Herefordshire's favourites – beer and horse racing - come together early next month as the 2006/7 National Hunt season begins at Hereford Racecourse.

Wye Valley Brewery is putting its money on the horses as the company signs up as a major racecourse sponsor, with its own racing day on Thursday 4 May, 2006.

Six races will carry names associated with the Stoke Lacy brewery, one of which will be the Steve Gibbs Memorial Handicap Chase, in memory of the drayman who died in January 2006.

The brewery's pub customers are being offered an exclusive racing admissions package by the company, both for the Wye Valley Brewery raceday and also the annual Beer and Cider day in the autumn.

The 2005/6 jump racing season isn't fading away quietly. It's the Scottish Grand National on Saturday, and then the finale at Sandown Park the following weekend when Paul Nicholls will be crowned Champion Trainer for the first time.

Congratulations to him as he holds an insurmountable lead over long-time champion Martin Pipe, with just a little over one week of the 2005/6 season remaining.

Hereford Racecourse has been a happy hunting ground for the Somerset handler. Indeed, with the exception of Southwell where he's had just two runners, Nicholls has enjoyed his best winner-to-runner strike rate – 40% - at this racecourse.

In contrast, Martin Pipe has returned just two winners from 19 runners.

While Hereford-born rider Richard Johnson will once again play bridesmaid to Tony McCoy in the Jockeys' Championship, this time around he is just 20 winners behind him, closer than in many of their previous annual encounters.

Locally, Richard Johnson just edged it over his rival, with five winners to four over the last 12 months.

Not many of the horses of the leading owner-elect – J P McManus – are seen running at Hereford.