Sad to see what has happened to this once memorable pipe-opener on the King George card

Times change and some of racing's traditions just become too archaic for the modern age, but it is an enormous shame the race for female amateur riders that for many years was a staple of King George day has been axed from the meeting.

For many years a mile conditions race on the round course that acted as the curtain-raiser on the King George card, it was gradually shuffled to the back of the card and switched to a 7f handicap on the straight course down the years, before finally being moved to the Friday of the two-day meeting in 2021. Now it has disappeared altogether and is instead set to be run in September.

Rosie Margarson, one of the winning jockeys in the race who now adds to her riding duties by working in the Racing Post’s bloodstock team, says she is “livid” at the switch and that her fellow jockeys are “devastated”.