OLYMPIC cycling champion Victoria Pendleton has been granted an amateur licence just in time to be booked to ride at Ripon on Monday.

This was achieved after a two-day assessment at the British Racing School in Newmarket last week. She has been issued with the Category A amateur rider licence that will enable her to contest her first race under rules at the beautiful ‘Garden Course’.

One of Great Britain’s most decorated Olympians will get the usual warm Yorkshire welcome when she walks from the weighing room.  She is set to partner the Lawney Hill-trained Royal Etiquette and will get a 3lb claim in the Ripon handicap, part of the Betfair Novice Flat Amateur Series.