As the worst cold snap in more than forty years continues to cause mayhem with racing fixtures on either side of the Irish Sea, many jockeys have found themselves sidelined and without work while racecourses have been frantically trying to reschedule meetings and protect facilities.

Those riders who have been able to continue working on the UK all-weather tracks have had to contend with some extreme conditions in recent days. The accompanying photo shows Robert Winston (grad. 1996) resembling Darth Vader as he guards against wind chill during a blizzard at Lingfield on 9^th January. On the same day, Eddie Ahern (grad. 1994) turned a car slide into a winning ride when his car (with three passengers) took an off-road excursion on his way to Lingfield yet still ended the day a winner with victory on Beauchamp Viceroy in the 1m conditions race. “I went to go round a bend and the car went straight on”, said the Tipperary man. “I was probably going a bit quick and I might have touched the brakes but the car’s grand and the passengers suffered no whiplash, so I won’t have to pay them!”

The current cold spell and lack of jump racing has put the focus on the race for the all-weather jockeys championship (November 9 – March 26) which is really hotting up and has several RACE graduates to the fore. Joe Fanning (grad. 1986) and Robert Winston are currently joint leaders with 20 wins, with Shane Kelly (grad. 1995) on 17 and Jimmy Quinn (grad. 1983) on 15 in the chasing pack.

Others to feature on the leader board include Eddie Ahern with 10, Steve Donohoe (grad. 2001) on 9, and Declan Cannon (grad. 2004) on 7 winners, representing a healthy strike-rate of 18%.

Meanwhile back on the RACE campus, the current group of trainees are adapting to the prolonged wintery conditions, making great use of the indoor school as the gallops slowly thaw out and enjoying the opportunities for snowball fights!