Winters appeal to be heard on Wednesday

The appeal hearings of Mick Winters and Barry John Foley will take place at the Turf Club at 6pm on Wednesday while the three riders who tested positive for metabolites of cocaine at Galway on October 10 will learn the extent of their punishment on Thursday evening.

Winters was fined €6,000 and Foley hit with a 21-day ban under rule 212 A(i) after the stewards at Cork on November 19 deemed Churchtown Glen was not allowed run on his merits.

The horse was sent to post an 80-1 shot on the day and was beaten over 20 lengths back in seventh.

Irish Grand National-winning rider Ger Fox, along with amateurs Roger Quinlan and Danny Benson, are the jockeys involved in Thursday's hearings.

Legends set to take to the stage at IJF concert

An array of racing stars will grace Lambourn Church on Wednesday, December 6 for the Injured Jockeys Fund's annual Christmas concert.

Former champion jockeys Sir Anthony McCoy and John Francome will both give readings at the event, which begins at 6.30pm, as will Clare Balding and Guy Disney.

While those four will be talking, trainers Dominic Ffrench Davis and Charlie Mann will sing the We Three Kings solos, the other king being Toby Lawes, assistant to Nicky Henderson.

Also performing will be local trainer Heather Main, an accomplished soprano.

Tickets, for sale for £15, can be bought from Oaksey House by calling 01488 674242.

Eyecatching stallion nominations gifted for charity auction

Barney Roy has been added to the list of nominations for Sunday’s Tattersalls charity auction in aid of Retraining of Racehorses.

A total of 14 lots are now on offer, including Kingsman, Gleneagles and five from Cheveley Park Stud.

Di Arbuthnot, chief executive of RoR, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the stud farms who have shown their support for the charity by donating nominations to stallions.”

Silk Series a sublime success

Arena Racing Company has announced that the total amount raised by The Silk Series has topped £46,000 for Cancer Research UK.

The Silk Series is a pioneering new series of races for female jockeys, worth a total of £100,000, that took place across nine Ladies Day fixtures at ARC racecourses this summer.

Jockeys were awarded points based on their finishing positions, with apprentice Megan Nicholls winning the Tufnell Trophy for the top jockey after the final at Doncaster in September following her winning rides at Brighton and Bath.

'Invisible horses of the future'

The annual World Horse Welfare Conference takes place on Thursday at London’s Royal Geographical Society.

This year’s theme will be ‘invisible horses of the future’.