Amy Ryan - A Jockey’s Diary: Libertarian’s fantastic ride inspires me to excel at Pontefract and York

He did ever so well and wasn’t far away from emulating the feat of Dante, the last White Rose County-trained horse to win the Derby, back in 1945.

That was also a boost for the record of the Group 2 Betfred Dante Stakes at York Racecourse as an Investec Derby trial race. Some pundits doubted how good Elaine Burke’s horse was, but York form is always good form, especially in top notch races like ‘The Dante’.

I am spending this evening at Pontefract where I have two rides.

Shamouti ran a decent enough race on her debut at Ripon at the end of April. She was very green though.

The experience will only have done her good and she will come on for the run in the 6.35pm race this evening.

An hour later and I am on board Pipers Note for West Yorkshire trainer Richard Whitaker. I won on him last season at Beverley, but in his next race the ground was too soft at Pontefract. He’s had an outing already this term so he’s spot on.

Tomorrow sees me off to Chester Races and I am very pleased to have been booked to ride a horse for Yorkshire trainer Mark Johnston and Sheikh Hamdan. I have ridden for the Sheikh before and have enjoyed a winner for him.

Fennell Bay goes in the handicap race at 3.20pm. He’s a gelding with plenty of experience and has registered six wins in the last couple of years.

The high point for him was, of course, his victory in the King George V Stakes at last year’s Royal Ascot. The four-year-old’s last outing on turf was when he was fourth of 13 runners in the Infinity Tyres Stakes at the Dante Festival at York last month. Let’s hope I can guide him home for his second win of 2013.

In the race before that, at 2.45pm, I am saddled up on Chooseday who really wants soft ground. I won on him at the same track last year. He’s had three runs already this season, so he’s fit and ready.

Sam Nombulist is another Richard Whitaker horse for me tomorrow. I have won on him before and he also has winning form at York from almost exactly 12 months ago.

With a victory at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile last autumn, too, he certainly has the ability to win decent races.

His assignment is the 4.30pm race at Chester. He’s a horse who likes to bowl along and quite prefers a little bit of cut in the ground.

My final ride on The Roodee is Bapak Sayang in the 5.05pm race. He is a good horse; indeed a very quick horse who’s always away from the gates at speed.

He made the running for me at Newmarket last month and performed creditably. I would be hopeful of a big run from him tomorrow.

It isn’t long now until we’ll be racing again on Knavesmire – next Friday and Saturday in fact.

As well as the races for professional jockeys, there’s also the Macmillan Charity Race.

I am told that retired jockey Peter Craggs, who won the Scottish Grand National in 1978, is making a comeback at the age of 64.

The charity race will be tremendous fun to watch and it’s all in aid of a great cause with each rider raising at least £2,500 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

I hope to see many Yorkshire Post readers at York Racecourse next week.

Just by coming to the racecourse you add to the money raised for charity.

The next racing at York Racecourse is on Friday, June 14 and Saturday, June 15.

Saturday features not only the Charity Sprint Trophy, the most valuable sprint handicap for three-year-old horses in Europe, and the Queen Mother’s Cup, but also the Macmillan Charity Race which will be contested by amateur riders raising money for charity.

Gates are open from 11.15am, with first race times of 2pm and 2.05pm respectively.

On-the-day admission ranges from £5 to £24 on the Friday and £7 to £36 on the Saturday. As always, accompanied under 16s are admitted free of charge to all areas.

More information can be found online at www.yorkracecourse.co.uk or by calling the racecourse on 01904 620911.