Speciale Day for Conor
Winning connections of Lir Speciale at Doncaster. Photo credit – Nigel Kirby
Doncaster hosted the final round of the Go Racing In Yorkshire Future Stars Apprentice Series, sponsored by White Rose Saddlery, on the closing day of the turf season.
A huge 21 runners were declared for the first race on the card, which was confined to apprentices who had ridden less than 20 winners by the beginning of May. Following incessant rain in the days leading up to the meeting, the ground was officially described as heavy.
Not surprisingly, given the size of the field, runners were spread right across the track for the seven-furlong race and split into two groups. On the far side, It Just Takes Time ridden by Jack Nicholls took the lead, while on the near side, it was Flag Of St George under Alexandra Egan.
Joint favourite, Terries Royale, ridden by series leader Mason Paetel, joined It Just Takes Time on the far side, with Shazani and Zowal close behind. Meanwhile on the stands side, Golden Pharoah, Dragon of Malta and Lir Special were on the heels of Flag Of St George.
At the halfway stage, the far side group had made their was across the course to join those racing up the stands side and there was little between the two groups, with a wall of horses filling the track and the runners closely grouped, other than Look Back Smiling who was a few lengths behind the main pack.
Just outside the final two furlongs, Golden Pharoah was pushed forward by Kyle McHugh to make the first run for home, but Lir Speciale and Conor Whiteley quickly followed. The pair battled hard in the final furlong and it was Lir Speciale who got up to win by half a length, giving Conor his first win.
Golden Pharoah and Kyle McHugh finished in second with Ranbow Nebula and Ethan Tindall running on from behind to finish in third.
With 11 races making up the series this year, the overall winner was Mason Paetel who scored in the first race of the season at Doncaster, when winning on Destinado, trained by his boss, James Owen and following up in the second round at Ripon winning on Overnight Oats, again for James Owen.
Mason added to his winning scores when finishing 4th in the second division at Doncaster on the opening day and second at Redcar in July.
We look forward to following Mason in 2026.