Perth Regional Meeting and Jackpot proves popular

Over 60 members and guests joined the ROA regional meeting and Industry Ownership Day at Perth Racecourse on September 9.

It was a wet start to the day, which following 15mm of steady rain in the 24 hours before racing saw the going change from good to good to soft and then soft after the third race.

The Lawn Marquee provided a good location to enjoy racing from, offering trackside views of the course beyond the finishing line. 

Members gathered before racing for the regional meeting and networked with fellow members and the ROA executive team, members of the racecourse executive and committee and Scottish Racing. 

ROA chief executive Charlie Liverton updated members on industry matters, including fixtures and funding, prize-money, equine and participant welfare and use of the whip.

Members asked questions about accuracy of going information and reports, prize-money and media rights contracts, the raceday experience for owners, minimum values and the appearance money scheme. 

There was some debate about a perceived proliferation of horses travelling over from Ireland to race at Perth and other Scottish and northern courses.  Some members suggested differences in the handicapping and monitoring systems between Britain and Ireland put horses trained in Ireland at an advantage when running in Britain.

The merits of the distribution of prize-money were also discussed, and particularly how this impacted on owners of horses running at the grass roots level. 

Long journeys to Perth paid off for a number of runners on the day.  Ten horses who travelled from Ireland provided three winners of the seven races, including the ROA Owners Jackpot race won Holy Motivation, who won the 3m ROA Owners Jackpot race after finishing second over the same trip at the course in July and August. Her success notched a double on the day for trainer Gordon Elliott and jockey Richard Johnson.

Owners Pioneer Racing were delighted to win the £2,000 Owners Jackpot bonus.  Sam Boswell was delighted and said: “we were really pleased to see her win after hitting the crossbar twice at Perth previously.  Her owners have been hugely supportive and are very passionate about their racing. Winning the bonus makes a huge difference in helping to cover costs and we will look out for future bonus races.” [quote tbc].

Owners of all qualified runners in the ROA Owners Jackpot race received £250 towards travel expenses, as usual. 

A long road trip proved fruitful for connections of Le Musee, who travelled from Tiverton to Perth bag the ROA sponsored Class 2 Handicap Chase for owners Dragonfly Racing.

Miles travelled weren’t confined to the equine participants, with member Maurice Stringer having made the journey from Wiltshire to join the regional meeting. He is on his third cycle of visiting every racecourse in the country and is making good use of free admission as an ROA member in doing so.

Along with other members, he got involved in helping judge best turned out awards and making a presentation for the ROA sponsored races on the card.

As ever the ROA had a gazebo with ROA membership team on hand to welcome members and racegoers and answer questions on ownership and membership.  Goody bags with information on the benefits of membership were provided for racegoers who visited the facility on the day. 

Members may be interested to know the Scottish Racing Annual Review and Outlook can be downloaded at http://www.scottishracing.co.uk/annual-review/