Trainer James Ferguson Shows his Class to Win Heat Two of the Furlong Factor
Heat two of Racing Welfare’s incredibly popular singing competition, the Furlong Factor, took place last night. Once again the standard was top notch and the four contenders that went head-to-head all enjoyed a huge amount of support across social media. It was James Ferguson who came out on top, winning the heat with the David Bowie favourite Starman.
Rookie Trainer James, who is based at Saville House in Newmarket, had started his first season well with four winners before the Covid-19 crisis put a temporary stop to all racing. But, as last night’s audition showed, horses are clearly not his only passion. As well as singing, James played the guitar and gave the audience a brilliant acoustic performance that proved popular and sent him through to the final.
James was delighted to go through and commented:
Thank you so much for everyone who voted for me last night on the Furlong Factor. It was wonderful to have the support from everyone in the racing industry and from everyone else that got involved for such a great cause. The competition last night was extremely good and I was very very surprised to get through, I thought every single one of them was unbelievable. I’m very much looking forward to the final, I’m going to have to think of a good song to do but hoping that I can pull it out of the bag and go on and win!
The final 24 contenders are going head-to-head in online heats that continue every night until Monday 4th May and that take place at 8 pm on Racing Welfare’s Twitter page. All of the contestants are vying to win the £1,500 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Qatar Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe.
Coming up in tonight’s heat are four girls with stunning voices who will be singing some timeless classics. Ania Parry, a stud hand from Chasemore Stud, and Clara Greening, a racehorse owner from Wales, both perform their versions of You’ll Never Walk Alone. Emma Chamings, from communications firm JSC, takes on the massive Keane hit, Somewhere Only We Know and Lilli Hines from Godolphin Pre-Training sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
JJ Hamblett, a former jockey and member of X-Factor finalists, Union J, who is the celebrity commentator for the competition, said:
Wow! Racing has some seriously good hidden talents. All four of last night’s contenders performed so well, it must have been a tough call for the voters to choose their favourite. Massive congratulations to James Ferguson, I can’t wait to see his song choice for the final.
The winners of each heat will progress to the live Furlong Factor Final which will be broadcast on Sky Sports Racing on Saturday 9th May. In the run-up to the final racing fans will have the opportunity to back their favourite contestants through the Tote, before the winner of the Furlong Factor 2020 is announced. Funds raised by Tote bets will be donated to Racing Welfare’s Covid-19 Emergency Appeal.
You can support Racing Welfare now by going to justgiving.com/RWEmergencyAppeal.