Current leading lady flat jockey Wendy Gibson, heading the amateur tables on 3 wins already this season including the Ladies Derby at Ripon (photoed above on DIMASHQ), is being treated for injuries to her back, liver and ribs in Leicester Royal Infirmary following a dramatic fall at Leicester on Thursday night, 25th June.  

Soon after the starting stalls opened, NOMOREBLONDES appeared to stumble and as the mare dropped her head, her jockey was thrown onto the firm ground where she was also subjected to a kicking.  Racing was delayed for half an hour whilst two doctors accompanied Wendy to hospital.

Peter Midgley, the trainer who has supplied Wendy with her winning rides so far this season, remains hopeful that she will make a swift recovery so that she can aim for a tilt at this year’s Ladies Amateur Flat Championship.  Hopes for Wendy to be released from hospital this weekend have not come to fruition as she took a kick directly on her stomach and has severe bruising.

Wendy enjoyed representing Great Britain in Baden-Baden earlier this summer and also rode a winner in Malaysia last year.  We all wish her well again very soon and look forward to seeing her hopefully back in the saddle before too long. 

KATIE COOPER enjoyed a champagne moment when winning the first race of her career by bringing Mull Of Dubai with a sweeping late run to land the Queen Mother’s Cup today at York.  Katie is trainer’s secretary to Tom Tate and was having only her 9th ride under Rules.  As tradition dictates, Katie receives her weight in champagne as part of her winning prize thanks to the generosity of Pol Roger.

Serena Brotherton rode a perfectly timed race on Gifted Leader to hit the front 2 furlongs from home but was denied victory by three-quarters of a length, with Hillview Boy and Carol Bartley back in third, having tried to steal a march on their rivals and staying on well to finish four lengths behind the second.

Katie said “My first winner and not a bad day to do it on. I just kept him out the back and then he came through.  I knew they would go quick and it played into my hands.”

Meanwhile, Oliver’s winning streak has been unstoppable and he also enjoyed a winner last night in the Novice Hunter Chase on Dennis the Legend.   This brought his winning tally for the season to 30, a fantastic total and a huge achievement considering that Oliver never set out to win the Championship this season, but has picked up from where his elder brother Thomas left off.

(Interestingly, Thomas achieved the same amount of winners to claim his first NH Championship in 2004/5 and took the championship last season with 25 wins.  Having concentrated this season on point-to-pointing, Thomas is currently leading that national championship with Dave Mansell in close pursuit and currently only 4 wins behind him.)

Our lady NH champion amateur jockey for this season, Lucy Horner, is currently sidelined with concussion and was therefore unable to collect her champagne in person, as was Rose Dobbin, reigning champion amateur lady jockey and this year’s runner up who has now retired from the saddle to enjoy turning her attention to training.

Many congratulations to our fantastic champions Oliver and Lucy, their runners up Danny and Rose, and all our members who have enjoyed riding winners this season.  It was also excellent to see Jacqueline Coward at Stratford, who is making a slow but excellent and steady recovery from her head injury sustained at Wetherby back in the spring.  Jacqueline has her shoulder operated on next week, as does Dickie Barrett.  Good luck to all our members who are awaiting surgery or getting over injuries of which there seem to have been more than usual this season - get well soon and we all wish you a speed return to the saddle!

Oliver Greenall can also relax a little, with an impressive season behind him totalling 29 wins to date and is so far ahead of his nearest rival that no one can worry him.  This is a tremendous achievement after his nasty Cheltenham injury and follows Oliver’s previous season’s record breaking point-to-point feat.  Danny Cook remains well clear of the remaining winning jockeys this season to secure himself the runner-up slot.

 Many congratulations to everyone who has ridden a winner this season and especially to our new champions, Oliver and Lucy!

Rose’s tally of 100 winners includes point-to-points and she hopes to have one more ride in a point-to-point at Hexham later this month, and then retire from the saddle to concentrate on her training career.

Rose said “I rode my first winner here at Wetherby on Ho Pang Yau in 2004.  I’ve had lots of great moments since then, notably beating the boys to become the leading amateur last year, two winners at Cheltenham and also a second at the Festival, and winning the Lanzarote on Rayshan.”

Many congratulations to Gina on winning this series and many thanks to Jamie Lennox and Home-Tek International for their generous sponsorship.  The top lady jockeys in the Home-Tek Hurdle Series 2009 are:

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF 

THE AMATEUR JOCKEYS ASSOCIATIONOF GREAT BRITAIN LIMITED (‘THE AJA’)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 2009 Annual General meeting of the AJA will be held on Monday 8th June at 11.30 am at Weatherbys, Sanders Road, Wellingborough, Northants. NN8 4BX when the following ordinary business will be considered:

1. to receive apologies for absence
2. to consider and if thought fit to approve and confirm the Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting and to authorise the President to sign them
3. to receive and consider the report of the directors
4. to receive and consider the report of the Chief Executive
5. to receive and consider and if thought fit to pass a resolution adopting the accounts for twelve months ending 31 December 2008.  The accounts are now completed and copies will be available at the AGM.  Alternatively, on receipt of a stamped addressed envelope, copies will be sent to members on written request
6. to consider and if thought fit to pass a resolution electing directors.

(a)  The following director retires at the Annual General Meeting in accordance with Regulations 26.1 and 26.2 and offers himself for re-election:

Nick Gaselee (nominated by Gay Kindersley and seconded by Ian Balding) 

Should any other person wish to stand for election as a director he or she is referred to the provisions of regulation 27

7 to re-appoint Dr L A Cotterill as auditors and to authorise the directors to fix their remuneration

Dated:  1st May 2009

By order of the board

……………………………………..

Sara Moore

Company Secretary

A member entitled to attend and vote at the meeting is entitled to appoint a proxy to attend and vote in his stead.  A proxy need not be a member of the company.

Unable to call upon the horsepower of his fellow jockey to give a sustained battle to the line, Danny (pictured below) has decided to turn professional before the end of the season and takes out his professional licence today.  We wish him good luck in his professional capacity.  It is excellent to see the amateur route provide a schooling ground for such a talented and promising jockey.

Meanwhile, with Oliver’s nearest rival now being Donal Devereux on 9 winners, it looks likely that we should all be offering many congratulations to Oliver on his tremendous achievement, especially considering the nasty injury he sustained recently at Cheltenham when bruising his spleen.  The champions will be presented with their usual magnums of champagne at Stratford on Saturday 23rd May.  Lucy Horner  currently leads the ladies on 11 winners, her nearest rivals being  Georgina Andrews and Rose Dobbin on 5.

The AJA were delighted to kick start this year’s flat season for amateur jockeys with races at Doncaster on Sunday 29th March for gentlemen jockeys and on Saturday 18th April for the ladies.

With KING’S RANSOM (Trevor Woodside) taking a very long lead from early on, DIRECTOR’S CHAIR (Ross Birkett) was always up with the leading bunch and was ready to pounce when KING’S RANSOM started to come back to the field.  DIRECTOR’S CHAIR responded to his jockey’s driving and dug deep to hold on from the late challenge of runner up TOP SEED with KING’S RANSOM back in third. 

This was an important win for Ross as it was his 5th win under Rules and therefore qualifies him to enjoy riding abroad in Fegentri races, which was also enjoyed a few years ago by his mother, trainer Julia Feilden.

By coincidence, the result of the ladies 7f race on Saturday was also of significance for the winning rider Wendy Gibson.  SMARTY SOCKS came off the pace and kept on well on the firmish ground to lead inside the final furlong and make an interesting day for his owner who was also in the middle of moving house!   This also gave Wendy her 5th win in her career and both Ross and Wendy will now represent Great Britain in Baden-Baden, Germany, on 16th May in the Fegentri World Cup of Nations when they will wear the unique Union Jack silks.  Many congratulations to them both!

The previous weekend Andrew (based with Sue Smith) together with Ruth Jefferson represented Great Britain in Pisa in the Fegentri World Cup of Nations where they finished 4th and 6th respectively.