3 minute read
Wales & The West regained their Racing League title with a dominant display in the series finale at Southwell, with Saffie Osborne notching three winners to be crowned leading rider for the third successive year.
Having started the evening with a 41.5-point lead over London & The South, the 2022 champions made a perfect start in the opening race, utilising a successful joker play with Ian Williams' Dancing In Paris.
Wales & The West wasted no time in increasing its advantage as the Edward Smyth-Osbourne-trained Noodle Mission led home a one-three in the following seven-furlong handicap.
Jamie Osborne's team sealed victory with Ed Walker's Fantasy Believer in the penultimate contest, ultimately ending the competition with 869 points. The East finished second with 772.5, while London & The South took third with 757.
"It has been a great competition. A lot of hard work goes into it, and I am very fortunate that I have a great team of trainers who have really bought into it. Ultimately, we have had the most runners and been the most consistent," said the winning manager, Jamie Osborne.
"I am still deeply scarred by what happened here last year when we managed to throw it away and lose by seven points to Ireland. It took me a while to get over that and I was rather determined that the same did not happen again this year, so it is brilliant to get it done.
"We probably lack the quality of some of the other teams, but our team is a genuine team. Trainers by nature are incredibly selfish animals but that has been put to one side for these six meetings to try and win it. We filled our cards and managed to have 83 out of a possible 84 runners.
"Now all of our staff are going to get a very nice bonus, thanks to Racing League and ARC [Arena Racing Company]. We have a £50,000 prize split on a per runner basis – it works out £603 per runner – which for some of the yards will make a real difference."
Saffie Osborne was presented with a cheque worth £20,000 as she claimed the leading jockey award for the third consecutive year. Osborne rode eight winners from 24 rides during the series. The East's Daniel Muscutt was second and Ireland's latest superstar Billy Loughnane third.
Saffie Osborne said: "To be honest, looking at Danny and Billy's rides coming into the evening, I thought I might struggle. Sometimes things just fall right and luckily it did tonight.
"Racing League has been brilliant for me. When I was an apprentice, this competition enabled me to ride for trainers I had never ridden for before.
"In fairness to dad [Jamie Osborne], he puts his life and soul into Racing League. He rings me most days during the week to discuss running plans. Fair play to him, he has done a brilliant job of organising our team."