Racing In Jersey!
INITIO is set to run in the opening fixture at Les Landes in May and it’s going to be great to see him in action, writes Jason Fildes
I was lucky enough to go racing in Jersey last year at Les Landes racecourse on the North West corner of the island. It’s a stunning setting on the coast with views across to Sark and Guernsey. The races are really a glorified point to point in the sun – they have a smart marquee for 500 people (who are the great and good of Jersey), everyone dresses up and it’s a proper party!
There are only nine race meetings a year, about every three weeks between the beginning of May and the end of September. The prize money is pretty modest (about £3k to the winner) and the standard of the horses racing reflects that.
Some UK trainers take horses and owners over to Jersey for specific races, but I think that the best way is to have a horse trained on the island by local trainer Alyson Malzard.
On Alyson’s advice we have bought INITIO, a four-year-old gelding rated 75 currently in training with Ed Bethell at Middleham.
Ed is going to get him fit and probably give him a run on the all-weather here in the UK before sending him to Jersey at the beginning of April. Alyson will then get him ready to run in the opening fixture at Les Landes on Sunday 12th May.
INITIO will hopefully run on at least four or five of the race days before coming back to Middleham in October.
There are eight shares in the syndicate to own him and I’m pleased to say that Tommo (Derek Thompson) who does the race-day hosting and commentary over there is taking a share in him!
It’s going to be great fun going over to Jersey for a long weekend (flights are very reasonable to St Helier) and to see our horse in action – a lovely thought on this cold March morning!
INITIO will run in races over six furlongs to one mile so there are plenty of opportunities for him during the season. He’ll then come back to Ed Bethell’s for a rest and we can go and see him run the occasional race here in the UK over the winter.
Fildes Racing
07721 311778
fildesracing@gmail.com
