Newsboy money going to charity
Connections of Southwark Newsboy have defended themselves as the row over the so-called boycott by a number of trainers of the Easter Monday meeting at Yarmouth rumbles on.
Just 34 horses were declared for six races, including the Christine Dunnett-trained Southwark Newsboy, the sole runner in the toteplacepot Maiden Stakes and guaranteed victory by way of a walkover.
Although 83 horses were initially engaged across all six events, several big yards from Newmarket scratched their entries.
Yarmouth’s fall to the bottom of the merit table resulted in a 43.6% cut in the allocation of funds, with tomorrow’s six-race card dropping to £18,600 (€24,000) – more than £5,000 (€6,400) less than in 2007.
Dunnett has come in for plenty of flak, but a spokesman for the Southwark News Racing Club, owners of Southwark Newsboy, said: “We didn’t believe in principle to attack Northern Racing (Yarmouth’s owners) so we decided to stand our ground. We weren’t going to be pushed about.
“As a result, we have decided to donate the prize-money to a brain tumour charity as Christine lost her husband to a brain tumour.
“We objected (to the boycott) as matter of principle. We are only small owners, we run a racing club for 200 ordinary, working class people, and we’ve decided to make a day out of it.
“Some trainers are in the Premiership and we are in the Conference. We are resigned to that, but Christine enables us to enjoy the sport for the joy of participation. We’d race for a tenner.”
