Marathon man: Neil Pollard sets new best to give Racing Welfare £40,000 boost

Neil Pollard, who won big-field handicaps like the Royal Hunt Cup and Cambridgeshire in his riding days, led home the Racing Welfare team in Sunday's 40,000-strong London Marathon in a new personal best time.

The barn manager for Godolphin at Saeed Bin Suroor's stable defied an interrupted prep for his second appearance in the race over 26 miles and 385 yards but still lowered his personal best to 2 hours 44.41 minutes, which saw him pass the post in 701st position overall.

Pollard, who rode his Cambridgeshire winner Lear Spear behind Dubai Millennium in the 2000 Dubai World Cup, will finish the week cheering on one from his Godolphin barn, Royal Marine, in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas.

Pollard, 41 next month and still weighing in at a race-fit 9st, said on Monday: "In last year's heatwave I did 3hrs 1min and this year I couldn't run for two weeks with an injury a month ago so I wasn't sure how I'd get on."

He need not have worried as he lowered his previous best of 2hrs 50mins set in the York marathon, which he plans to run again this year.

Racing Welfare team times

Neil Pollard 2 hours 44mins
David Walsh 2.59
Algy Stanley 3.26
James White 3.44
Darren Moore 3.47
Anna Ridges 3.50
Jono Mills 4.01
Hugh Anderson 4.21
Matthew Taylor 4.38
Sophie Hellyer 4.41
Nigel Kitching 4.47
Niall Hannity 4.53
John Webb 5.00

"After I retired from riding ten years ago I started running as I like keeping fit and started taking it seriously. I'm a keen and competitive runner with Newmarket Joggers and won the local 5km series but I'm still learning about marathons – this was my fifth.

"I struggled in the last three miles but with my name on the running vest I was getting plenty of encouragement from the crowd cheering me on, and averaging 6min 15sec miles is something I didn't think I could do."

Pollard still bows to his elder Paul Holley, his former colleague at David Elsworth's, as the elite runner in Newmarket.

As to the chances of Royal Marine, winner of the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere last October and a general 8-1 shot for the 2,000 Guineas after his fourth in the Craven, Pollard added: "He didn't have the best of runs there. Pat Cosgrave rode him work this morning and everything's fine so fingers crossed he can win another Group 1 this year, like he did last year."

The five-strong Godolphin outfit in the Racing Welfare team all performed well and have raised £25,000 plus as the charity's coffers have been swelled by more than £40,000 by the 13 runners.

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