'It's incredibly kind of Ryan' - Moore to auction Ascot memento to raise funds for toddler with rare condition

Ryan Moore has donated the commemorative saddlecloth he received for partnering his 70th Royal Ascot winner last year to a charity auction in Newmarket next month, which is being staged to raise funds for his personal trainer's two-year-old son who has a rare chromosome condition.

Moore reached the landmark when partnering Meditate to win the Group 3 Albany Stakes for Aidan O'Brien last June. He became the second jockey to receive a special 70 saddlecloth after Frankie Dettori, who reached the landmark in 2020. Dettori gave his Royal Ascot memento away to charity shortly afterwards and it made £30,000 for frontline Covid-19 workers.

Former boxer Pat McAleese became personal trainer to Moore around eight years ago and regularly goes to the three-time champion jockey's house to put him through his paces in his private gym.

McAleese and his wife Lucy celebrated the birth of their son Sonnie in 2021 when he was found to have many medical conditions, including the very rare deletion of chromosome 7 which affects many bodily functions and means Sonnie has the mobility of a six- or seven-week-old.

Pat McAleese said: "Deletion of chromosome 7 affects only five or six children in the world I believe. Sonnie has other issues such as a hole in his heart, an unsafe swallow and something called global development delay."

As well as raising funds for Sonnie, the auction, which is on March 11 at Granary Barns in Wood Ditton, is to pay for Sonnie's specialist care including speech therapy and aqua therapy treatment.

McAleese added: "It's incredibly kind of Ryan to give us this 70th Royal Ascot winner saddlecloth and hopefully it will raise something around what Frankie's made. We also have other auction items such as hospitality for four at Newmarket racecourse and two F1 tickets for Silverstone."

Interested parties wanting to make a bid either before the auction or on the night should contact Pat on 07852 980593 or email pat-mcleese@hotmail.com.