3 minute read

Trainer a big believer in Racing League.

Charlie Fellowes will be acting as Goat Racing's chief cheerleader for Doncaster's second instalment of the William Hill Racing League.

Fellowes has teamed up with three Newmarket colleagues Hugo Palmer, George Scott and Tom Clover to challenge for the inaugural title in the competition which launched at Newcastle last week.

His string is surplus to requirements on Town Moor on Thursday – the second of six weekly meetings in the league which will subsequently move on to Lingfield and Windsor before concluding with a return to Newcastle.

Fellowes joked that his team has dropped him but confirmed he will be glued to proceedings from afar, screened live on Sky Sports Racing, as he was for the opening night at Newcastle – and will be adding his own firepower in the weeks to come.

"My team have dropped me!" he said.

"My horses performed very disappointingly last week – I thought I went there with a couple of nice chances.

"Sadly one of them (Mayfair Pompette) picked up an injury, so that's her out of the Racing League altogether – and a couple of others didn't quite fire.

"So my team have said 'I think, Charlie, we don't need you this week'. I've been very much put on the sidelines – water boy!"

Goat Racing are in the pack, eighth of 12 behind early leaders and their local rivals Newmarket Red, in pursuit of the team prize on offer as part of the near £2million kitty on offer – including £50,000 for the winner of each race.

Palmer's Echo Beach provided them with their only success at Gosforth Park – but Fellowes is confident better times lie ahead at Doncaster and, for him, elsewhere.

"I'll be back at Lingfield," he said.

"We've got to pick the right horses for the right races. This is a team sport – with very, very decent financial bonuses at the end of it.

"So if we thought that there were better options in the races I had horses for, we had to go that way. I think I've got some horses that will suit the speedier tracks, like Lingfield or Windsor – so I was happy to take a sidestep and let the others run horses they really felt would suit Doncaster."

He anticipates a successful strategy.

"Echo Beach is trying to back up after last week – (and) I thought he was impressive," he said.

"Tom runs Celsius and Sugauli – who are both decent horses on straight tracks – and I know George is pretty keen on Shoot To Kill's chances and also has Sarvan and Au Clair De Lune.

"So I think we go there with a really strong hand – but my horses weren't needed! I will be very much cheering on.

"I have not enjoyed watching racing as much (for a long time) as I did Newcastle last week.

"I watched the whole of the evening, and I thought it was great fun – and yes, I'll definitely be following closely what goes on.

"I don't like cheering for other people's horses – especially not normally my opponents. I don't like to cheer George Scott's horses on, full stop!

"But I'll take great pleasure in seeing them win (this time) if we do manage to."

Fellowes is confident too that the new competition will flourish, and play an important role in British racing for years to come.

"I think what people have to remember is that this is the first year – it is very much a work in progress," he added.

"But the amount of prize money they've brought in is for horses that deserve it.

"We're not talking about 50 or 60-rated handicappers – these are decent, decent horses who deserve to be running for more than they are currently running for (elsewhere).

"For me, it has got to be a really good thing. It will encourage people to keep decent horses in training in England, rather than selling them abroad."

There have been concerns in some quarters that the teams comprise a select group of trainers as yet – but Fellowes insists there is no closed shop.

He added: "I've heard people say it's too exclusive. It's not.

"Obviously we'd love everyone to be involved. But everyone was given the option to be involved – it was just the more proactive of us that managed to get a slot.

"When we heard about it, Hugo, George and Tom, we got together and said 'Look, we really want to be be part of this – we do not want to miss the boat'.

"We thought we had 30 horses that could come together and be part of it, so we approached them and said 'we really want to be a team' – and they were delighted.

"I think it's brilliant. It's not going to be perfect first time round – but God, I hope it carries on, and I hope it's a success, because long term I think it's a great thing."