GEORGE CHALONER, who has enjoyed the sort of year many up-and-coming jockeys can only dream about, has come of age.

The Ryedale rider, who on successive weekends in mid-summer, won the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot on Baccarat and Newcastle’s Northumberland Plate on Angel Gabrial, has joined the fully-fledged ranks.

Chaloner rode out his apprentice allowance at Newcastle early last week when scoring on Royal Connisseur – his 95th career success – and followed-up at Catterick on Saturday when winning on English Summer, which was his first winner without a claim.

Fittingly, both winners were trained by Richard Fahey, also the handler of Baccarat and Angel Gabrial, who has provided Chaloner with the opportunity of proving his worth in recent years.

The Lincoln-born rider, whose grandfather Trevor and his brother Colin were both jump jockeys, is a product of the Northern Racing College and started out with Malcolm Jefferson before switching to Fahey to pursue a Flat career – following an identical route to that taken by dual-champion jockey Paul Hanagan.

Chaloner has never had any cause for regrets. His first winner came at Wolverhampton in December 2010 on Mighty Clarets and his career has flourished since, particularly in the last 18 months.

Having recorded single-figure scores in his first three seasons, Chaloner boosted his tally to 33 winners last year and is currently only three winners shy of recording a half-century in 2014. Apart from Fahey, he has benefited from, among others, loyal support from Leeds trainer Richard Whitaker.

His milestone success on Royal Connisseur at a course where he enjoyed his ‘Pitmen’s Derby’ triumph on Angel Gabrial, was achieved in the colours of part-owners Steve and Glen Clayton, who sponsor the jockey through their site-engineering company Morebrooke Ltd.

“It was fantastic to ride out my claim on a horse owned by my sponsors and trained by the boss,” said Chaloner. “It couldn’t have worked out better.”

English Summer’s victory at Catterick chalked-up Chaloner’s all-important first win as a fully-fledged jockey and, in the process, left him only four winners short of another milestone success – his 100th winner.

“It was a great week and it’s been a great year,” he said. “It’s gone better than I could possibly have imagined.”

Chaloner is the second Ryedale apprentice to ride out his claim this year. In early-summer it was the turn of Jason Hart, last year’s champion apprentice, to earn his rite of passage into the senior ranks. The Malton rider has continued to do well since, with plenty of support from trainers like Eric Alston, Keith Dalgleish and Mark Walford at Sheriff Hutton.

George Chaloner is under no illusions that the hard work is now about to begin if he is to successfully bridge the yawning gap between high-flying apprentice and in-demand senior jockey.

“I’ll be giving it my best shot,” he said. “I’ll keep my head down and keep kicking on.”

 

• MEGAN CARBERRY, who is attached to Brian Ellison’s Norton yard, has scooped first prize in the 2014 Go Racing In Yorkshire Apprentice Series – with one race still to go!

The teenager, who only arrived in Britain earlier this year after previously being based in her native Ireland, where she had originally been a top pony-race rider, has accumulated a total of 59 points in this special series for young riders but cannot be overhauled no matter what happens in the concluding race at Doncaster on Saturday, November 8th, the final day of the turf season.

Carberry, following in the footsteps of last year’s winner, Gary Mahon, who was apprenticed to Tim Easterby, will receive a sponsorship from Go Racing In Yorkshire worth £1,500 in cash, plus £500 in equipment from Wendy Hoggard’s White Rose Saddlery in Norton. She will also be able to take part in promotions with Go Racing In Yorkshire in 2015, helping her to maintain her profile, while the public will be able to follow her exploits via a blog on the Go Racing In Yorkshire website.

Carberry, who was the only rider to win two legs of the series – at Doncaster in March on Memory Cloth and aboard Ever Fortune the following month at Pontefract – said, “I got off to a flying start in the series and have managed to stay on top. It’s great to win it as it’s something I have focussed on since the beginning of the season.”

She added, “I would like to thank all the owners and trainers, especially Brian Ellison, who have supported me and I’m looking forward to riding in the last race of the series at Doncaster and also helping to promote Yorkshire racing in 2015.”

 

• THE 2014 Go Racing In Yorkshire Flat Trainers’ Championship is also done and dusted – with three weeks of the season still to go – with Richard Fahey in an uncatchable position,

Indeed, Fahey has set a record in the county, where he has had had 72 winners this term. Graham Orange, the public relations officer for GRIY, said, “It’s some achievement. Richard has broken his own record, set in 2009, of 70 winners at the Yorkshire courses. And, he can obviously still add to that tally in the time remaining.”

The area’s Jockeys’ Championship, however, is a much closer fight. Orange said, “Paul Mulrennan is in front, but he has Graham Lee and Danny Tudhope breathing down his neck. It promises to go right to the wire.”

 

• IT'S a sign that the jumps season is getting into top gear when the better horses start appearing and a couple of big hopes from Ryedale are due out this week.

Urban Hymn, trained by Malcolm Jefferson, and a useful hurdler last season, is set to make his debut over fences on Thursday at Carlisle in a beginners’ chase, while Hawk High, who provided Tim Easterby with a 33-1 success at the Cheltenham Festival in March when winning the Fred Winter Novices’ Handicap Hurdle, has a comeback engagement looming at Aintree on Saturday.

 

• THERE was no joy on Champions Day at Ascot last Saturday for David O’Meara and Brian Ellison, who had high-profile runners like G Force, Custom Cut. Top Notch Tonto and Baraweez, but the pair were both back among the winners at Pontefract’s final meeting of the season on Monday.

O’Meara score with the David Nolan-ridden Doc Hay, while Ellison was on the mark with Ty Gwr, the mount of Dale Swift.

 

• TOP National Hunt trainer and former champion jumps jockey Jonjo O’Neill has paid a major tribute to Alan Amies, who died last week, aged 68.

Amies, who lived near Sheriff Hutton, was a hugely popular and respected race-reader for Raceform for 35 years, his comments on races in the north and in Scotland being accompanied by his distinctive ‘AA’ initials.

O’Neill, former rider of such great local horses, trained by Peter Easterby, as Sea Pigeon, Alverton and Night Nurse, said, after saddling four winners at Wetherby last week, “When I was riding and looking through the form of horses, I would always follow Alan. I’d look for those ‘AA’ initials because whatever he said about horses was spot-on. He was the best. I was so sorry to hear that he was no longer with us.”

Amies, whose late father Frank, licence of the Fairfax Arms at Gilling, had also been a race-reader for Raceform, grew up with horses. Straight King and Ryedale King, who were bred behind the pub, were two useful performers for Amies snr, both trained by Herbert Jones at Norton. Anne Jones, the former trainer’s wife, said last week, “Alan also had a horse with us called Legal Limit, which was named after the new drink-driving law which was introduced. He won at Ripon one day, carrying Alan’s colours, with Willie Carson riding.”

Amies, who was Racing Journalist of the Year in 2000, has since been involved in racing in Hong Kong, where his race-reading skills were transferred to Sha Tin and Happy Valley from the likes of York, Thirsk and Hamilton.

His funeral will take place next Monday, 27th October, at 1.40pm at York Crematorium.