Northern Stars Shine at Racing Welfare’s Racing Staff Boxing Night
Last night, 7th March, The William Hill Racing Staff Boxing Night saw 22 boxers from the racing communities of Middleham and Malton compete against each other in support of Racing Welfare. Spectators from both of the racing centres turned out in droves to support their local stars, all of whom were fundraising for the charity as part of their involvement in the event.
The results of eight weeks of intensive training from the team at Ultra White Collar Boxing were on show, with all of the boxers lining up for three rounds in the ring at York Racecourse. All boxers were matched for height and weight by the UWCB team following their weeks of training.
Early fighters set the standard
First to fight was James ‘The Durham Cowboy’ Waggott, part of the team at Micky Hammond’s Middleham based yard, who took on his stablemate, work rider Davie ‘Baby Bartley’ Gorman. In a competitive match up, Davie Gorman landed some key blows to triumph overall and take victory in the opening draw.
Fight two saw Jacob ‘One Bomb’ Headley take on Lewis Uylett, an opponent from UWCB’s locker. Jacob is part of the team at Bond Thoroughbred Stud and despite some great spells of consistent work between the ropes, was narrowly beaten by Lewis on the night.
Next to enter the ring was Stud Secretary at Elwick Stud, Charlotte ‘Lancaster Bomber’ Lancaster, who matched up against a Crystal Hearsum, another boxer from the UWCB team. Charlotte was strong from the outset and overpowered her opponent to take a resounding victory, much to the delight of her many fans in the room.
The Middleham vs Malton rivalry came to the fore next when Aidan ‘Bean Machine’ Macdonald, conditional jockey for Micky Hammond, took on Joshua James ‘The Joker’ Scott, who is part of the team at Nigel Tinkler racing. Both fighters went out hard from the blocks and kept their energy up throughout, with ‘The Joker’ just snatching the win from his Middleham based rival.
Representing David O’Meara racing, jockey Robbie ‘The Butcher Boy’ Fitzpatrick was next to fight, squaring up to another Nigel Tinkler recruit, apprentice jockey Aiden ‘The Sixth Sense’ Smithies. In another closely run event, Robbie Fitzpatrick showed some great quality to take the win from the Tinkler team member.
Mulrennan reigns supreme
Fight six on the night featured the York home fans’ favourite, Maiti ‘Mayhem’ Stirling, Marketing & Sponsorship Executive at the racecourse, who took on raceday presenter and soon to be ITV Racing pundit, Adele ‘The Blonde Bomber’ Mulrennan. Billed as one of most hotly anticipated bouts of the night, Adele kept the pressure on despite some great work from her opponent to take the win in grand style.
The atmosphere in here is absolutely electric and it is incredible to see so many people turn out in support of their friends and colleagues.
The final member of team Micky Hammond stepped into the ring for fight seven, with Gerasimos ‘The Greek God’ Minetos taking on David ‘I’ll fight any1’ Cottle, who is second travelling head lad for Brian Ellison. David went out all guns blazing in the first round, a tactic that proved to be superbly effective with Gerasimos having to concede victory before the second after assessment by the medical team.
Cook sets up for The Festival with a win
Being part of fight night might not be the traditional warm up for the Cheltenham Festival, however it was clearly a great start for jockey Danny ‘Cookie Crumble’ Cook. Cook proved a suitable match for his opponent, despite Matt ‘The Bodysnatcher’ Brown showing some great quality throughout. Cook was too strong though, cruising through to his appointments in Gloucestershire next week with a triumph over Matt, who is a work rider for Brian Ellison.
A firm favourite with the fans was the match up between Ryan ‘The Furious Farrier’ Batty, who took on yard man for Tim Easterby, George ‘The Big Show’ Illingworth. Both men had their moments of dominance in the match, with the momentum swinging to see Ryan Batty eventually emerge victorious over George, who’s boss Tim Easterby watched on keenly in support of his charge.
Fight of the night from Lee and Gray
The standout fight of the night came from a battle of the jockeys, with Clifford Lee, stable jockey to Karl Burke, fighting Shane ‘The Fif’ Gray. Both competitors are seasoned boxers and their talent was clear for all to see in what was a high energy, aggressive bout. The pair put on an excellent show for the crowd, who roared their support to see Clifford Lee narrowly come out on top from his equally proficient opponent.
The penultimate bout saw Ryan ‘The CFWarrior’ Timby from John Quinn’s yard match up with Group 1 winning flat jockey Paul ‘The Silver Bullet’ Mulrennan. In one of the closest run races of the night, both men had taken a round each before the third. However, ‘The Silver Bullet’ Mulrennan’s agility and athleticism held strong to see him take the win in the dying seconds.
Last on the card was Carl ‘Hitman’ Harwood, work rider for Sue Smith, who took on Rory ‘The Relentless’ Bevin, who is assistant trainer to Tim Easterby. Noise levels reached fever pitch in the room for the final fight, with the team from Easterby’s willing Rory to eventually take the victory despite a dominant start from Carl Harwood.
Dawn Goodfellow, Chief Executive of Racing Welfare, praised the way in which the event had brought the northern racing community together, saying:
Tonight has just been the most fantastic occasion. The atmosphere in here is absolutely electric and it is incredible to see so many people turn out in support of their friends and colleagues. I would like to thank everyone who came along in support of tonight’s event, not forgetting of course our 22 boxing superstars whose efforts have made this evening such a roaring success.
All of the boxers’ sponsorship pages are still open for donations, which can be found by typing the name of each boxer into JustGiving.com.