Apprentice title named in honour of Kyne and Wilson

This year’s apprentice championship has been renamed in tribute to the two young riders who were killed in a fire in the UK earlier this month.

The competition will now be called the Jan Wilson & Jamie Kyne Apprentice Championship 2009 after the promising pair died in a blaze at their block of flats in Norton.

Both families have given their blessing to the title change and Kevin Darley, chief executive of the Professional Jockeys Association believes it is a fitting memorial.

He said: “This is an excellent gesture by the sponsor. It is most appropriate that this season’s apprentice championship is renamed in memory of Jan and Jamie.”

Kyne had already partnered 30 winners this year before the tragedy occurred with Wilson having tasted victory three times on her parents’ horse, Imperial Sword.