The Catt, a Madman and Fifty Ladies of the Turf

Have you heard the one about the television presenter, the champion jockey and 50 racing ladies in a hotel room? No, it is not the start of a risqué joke by Chubby Brown! They are actually the guests who have been invited to take part in an event organised by Racing Welfare, the Jockey Club’s charity, as part of the epic Richard Dunwoody 1,000 mile Challenge on Monday 6 July.

The former champion jockey, polar explorer and Racing Welfare trustee is attempting to match the feat of endurance, first completed by Captain Robert Barclay in 1809, of walking 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours, a challenge which the dual Grand National winner describes as his toughest yet.

To help him on his way Mike Cattermole, Channel 4 Racing presenter and well known “thinking woman’s totty” has agreed to host and be guest speaker at a fundraising lunch for 50 of racing’s leading ladies at Newmarket’s swankiest hotel The Bedford Lodge. The guests however will not be allowed to just get away with tucking into poached salmon and sipping Bellinis whilst Dunwoody trudges yet another weary mile. All 50 ladies have also been asked to accompany the heroic extreme sportsman on a mile themselves along his tortuous route.      

The Ladies Day and the Dunwoody 1,000 mile Challenge have a serious fundraising reason behind them with all money raised going to the lead charity Racing Welfare and also Spinal Research, The Alzheimer’s Society and Sparks. Richard Dunwoody gave an impassioned reason for putting himself through such torture over the next 42 days:

“I can’t say I’m really looking forward to walking a mile every hour up and down Newmarket’s Bury Road 1,000 times, but doing this will help racing’s stable staff who dedicate their lives to looking after horses day in day out and I want people to give generously to help them.” 

Mike Cattermole on the other hand is looking forward to the event: “I personally think Richard is mad, he is going to go for 42 days with little or no sleep and all I have to do is entertain 50 of ladies at lunch. I think I have the easier job as a fellow Racing Welfare trustee actually!”

The Ladies Day is the brain child of Tansy Hiner who is the fundraising executive for Racing Welfare: “The guest list is made up of a wide selection of ‘Ladies of the Turf’; some are trainers and owners who Richard rode winners for back in his race riding days and others are more well known for their connection to horses in general. There are a few very high profile names indeed and I hope that they not only have a great lunch but also appreciate just how much pain Richard is going through for Racing Welfare.”

So the punch line may not be a smutty one, but the Ladies Day is certainly going to be a colourful sight with the historic Bury Road seeing 50 of racing’s finest fillies trailing in the wake of an exhausted former jockey and one unruffled TV racing pundit!