It’s been another fantastic season at Beverley Racecourse and a lot of credit must go to the ground staff team who have ensured the course was in great condition throughout the year.
Preparations will now go into getting Beverley ready for the new campaign in 2021. Before our thoughts turn to next year, here is a look back at three highlights from the last 12 months.
Dakota Gold Proves His Class Again in Beverley Bullet
Dakota Gold was one of the stand-out sprinters of 2019 but he went into the Beverley Bullet out of form, with four runs in the campaign without success. Michael Dods’ runner returned to his best at the Yorkshire course to land the prestigious Listed contest in great style.
Under the hands of jockey Connor Beasley, Dakota Gold was always prominent in the 5f race. Once the runner reached the final couple of furlongs, the six-year-old finished strongly to get up by just under two lengths.
The victory at Beverley was the first of four big wins for the horse in 2020. As you can see in the racing results, he later went on to score in the Group Three Bengough Stakes at York. It was also a huge success for Beasley who formed a great partnership with the horse. The young jockey is developing into a fantastic rider. He had a fantastic winter in the UAE last year and he is among the favourites to be the top jockey during the latest campaign there.
Ben Curtis at The Top of His Game
It’s been a fantastic year for Ben Curtis in the saddle and Beverley is one of the tracks he has been at his best at in 2020. He went into the Flat season on turf full of confidence after winning his maiden all-weather jockeys’ championship.
Curtis recorded nine winners across the year at Beverley from 37 rides, giving him an impressive 24% strike-rate. He also proved to be profitable across the year as backing all of his rides to a £1 stake would have given you a profit of £14.37. Outside of Beverley, he also won the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, one of the biggest wins of his career so far.
One of the meetings which will stand out for Curtis in 2020 was his treble at Beverley back in June. He guided Manaabit, Golden Pass and Colony Queen to success on the same card.
Zihaam Proves to Be a Beverley Specialist
Zihaam has been one of the regular runners at Beverley this season and he rewarded his connections with three wins from his six appearances. His hat-trick of successes came in September when he was the 18/1 winner of a handicap contest over 1m2f. It was a career-best performance from the six-year-old as he won off an official rating of 73. It will be great to see the gelding back at Beverley in 2021 where it would be no surprise to see him in the winner’s enclosure once again.
It won’t be long before the runners line up for the opening race of the new season at the East Yorkshire Racecourse. The first meeting is scheduled to take place on the 22nd April.
