Horse Talk: Kempton Park manager running London Marathon for Racing Welfare
Kempton Park general manager Phil White will contest the London Marathon on Sunday in a bid to raise funds on behalf of the charity Racing Welfare.
The Newmarket-based charity helps people with illness or disabilities and offers services that include affordable housing and specialist counselling.
White’s announcement that he will compete in the marathon for the first time comes after a month in which the risks taken by jockeys have been highlighted.
JT McNamara was left paralysed after a heavy fall at the Cheltenham festival and Grand National-winning rider Ryan Mania was lucky to escape serious injury after a fall the next day that necessitated him being airlifted to hospital.
“Racing Welfare provides essential support to all people who work or have worked in our industry and I am delighted to be able to support such a worthy cause,” said White. “I started training in November. However it has been much more difficult than I had anticipated and finding time around work to put the miles in has been a challenge.
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“Luckily I’ve run around the course here at Kempton, which is a lovely four miles and as long as my knee holds up I’m confident I’ll finish.”
Elsewhere the Punchestown Festival in Ireland, gets under way on Tuesday and First Lieutenant looks a great bet in the Punchestown Gold Cup the following day.
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Simon Jackson is a freelance racing journalist based in north west London. He can be reached at jacksonsports1@yahoo.co.uk for press and PR enquiries, or racing/betting related news stories and features.
