Pride of Racing / Joe Dyer / 24 July 2008 / 1 Comments

It's the night when racing recognises its real stars, and you can be there too...

One of the finest nights in the horseracing calendar returns to Lord's in October when the great and the good of the sport assemble for the Betfair-sponsored Pride of Racing awards.

Once again a light will be shone on the less well-known individuals as racing rewards the unsung heroes whose contribution deserves to be recognised.

Previous winners of a Pride of Racing award include jockey mentor Toby Balding, who has helped forge the careers of Tony McCoy and Adrian Maguire; Ronnie Longford, an equine chiropractor and physiotherapist of more than 50 years and Raymond 'Darkie' Deacon a legendary head groom of many years.

Nominations are currently being taken, so if there is someone whose work within the sport needs to be recognised visit the Racing Welfare website site and let them know, alternatively contact to Francoise Guillambert at Racing Welfare on 01638 565 242. All nominations will be carefully considered by a judging panel headed up by Nigel Elwes chairman of the charity, which provides support for all section of the industry.

As well as rewarding the heroes of racing, the night acts as a valuable fundraiser for Racing Welfare. More than £95,000 has been handed over to the charity since the first Pride of Racing in 2005.

This year's event takes place in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord's cricket ground on Thursday 16th October and will be hosted by Channel 4 presenter Mike Cattermole and Betfair's Mark Davies.

Individual tickets for the black tie event are available at £130 while a table for ten costs £1250, all attendees will arrive to a champagne reception before being treated to a three-course dinner.

Then it'll be time to get the chequebook out with an auction rounding off the night.

For more information on previous years' Pride of Racing visit: https://forms.taglab.com/prideofracing/pride2006.html or contact Betfair's Glyn Cassidy on 020 8834 8279 or at pride@betfair.com.

Tags: Mike Cattermole, Pride of Racing