Chris Boreham comes THIRD in the Property Charity Race!
Well Done!
In his own words:
I finished third which I was really pleased with. It was not the prettiest sight and I was a bit disappointed that even after all the training I was still as weak as a kitten by the end of the race, but I did start pushing from 4 furlongs out and I never thought I would be able to keep it up, but I did. I was never going to catch the first 2 who went off very fast and me and the horse would have really run out of puff if we had tried to keep up with them that early in the race.
I went in to ride out at Hannon’s the next day and the staff were amazed that I had come third, one lad who rides the horse quite a bit said “How did that happen?!”.
Many thanks to all of those who donated to the fabulous causes helped by this race. There is still time for more donations though! justgiving.com/companyteams/chrisbcharityrace
Chris Boreham of Thimbleby & Shorland likes a Challenge!
Just Giving – justgiving.com/companyteams/chrisbcharityrace
Where? Ascot Racecourse
When? Friday 14th July 2017 – Last race of the day off at 5.50 pm.
What?
A race over the straight mile for enthusiastic would be jockeys (and 1 or 2 who are in fact amateur jockeys, which is grossly unfair!) who are all involved in the property industry, so surveyors, developers, etc. Although riding racehorses is my passion and I ride out Point to Point horses regularly through the winter the challenge for me is that as I approach my 61st birthday how much longer can I keep doing it! I don’t think there is any doubt that I will be the oldest taking part by some margin!
Why? (very good question!)
Part of the fund raising that is taking place on the day. The Property Race Day is organised by the Property Industry to raise money for children’s charities.
The link to the Race Day website is: thepropertyraceday.co.uk
Fund Raising
To take part in the race I have not only had to pass an assessment at the British Racing School in Newmarket to 
demonstrate that I am fit and capable of riding a racehorse, I have to find a very generous owner who will let me ride their horse, a trainer who is happy to support the undertaking, find time to ride out on the gallops as much as possible and put myself through a rigorous training regime courtesy of jockey’s coach David Crosse, which involves an hour’s running and leg strengthening exercises every day. On top of that I have to raise a minimum of £5000, £1000 of which is already paid so that leaves me with £4000 to raise.
UPDATE:
I didn’t quite appreciate just how tough the fitness assessment would be, but to my relief I passed (just), so I thought I’d better get in some practice riding flat horses and started riding out for Richard Hannon. After 30 years, on and off (sometimes more off than on!), riding racehorses of various sorts I decided it was about time I got some coaching on how to do it properly, so I have been to see David Crosse in Lambourn, who has set me a serious fitness programme. And lastly I have also got to raise a fairly large amount of money.
However, most importantly none of this matters if I don’t have a horse to ride, so a massive thank you to Richard Hannon – richardhannonracing.co.uk – for allowing me to ride LUDUAMF. I will sit on him for the first time this Saturday and I am sure he will give me a great ride. The team at Herridge have been incredibly supportive. It is a huge ask to give some old enthusiastic amateur a ride on their horse when there is no prize money to be had and on the face of it only potential down sides! I can’t thank Richard and his team enough.
So at just short of my 61st birthday and therefore by some way the oldest jockey in the race, I am doing my bit to raise some money for charity, and having what I know is going to be one of the most exciting days of my life. Age is just a number I keep reminding myself!
I would be very grateful for any donations that you would like to make to support me in my efforts and for these great causes.
I have set up a page on Just Giving – justgiving.com/companyteams/chrisbcharityrace which gives the name of each of the 4 children’s charities that the donations will go towards.
Donations can be made to whichever charity the donor prefers, out of: