Nine TV races at Doncaster, Kempton and Newbury. Racing starts at 1.30pm, finishes at 5.15pm.

Naylor's Nag: J J Baboo- 3.05 Newbury Recommended stake £8 win

Yesterday's Naylor's Nag, Monnaie Forte was second at 7/1.

Running total on an initial tax-free £100 bank

Naylor's Nag: £124.08 (up £24.08)

Sussex news - Chris Murray watched the Cheltenham Festival on television this week. It left the 20-year-old Lewes-based jockey dreaming he would be in the thick of the action at the three-day event in 12 months time.

The Irishman's confidence and style were self evident watching him in action at Plumpton this week. There isn't a better jockey in the South of England. Murray is hungry for winners and gives every horse a 100 per cent chance.

He has ridden ten winners from about 60 rides since joining fellow Irishman Tom McGovern's Lewes stable 18 months ago. Murray won on his first two rides with McGovern when he scored by 28 lengths on Far Less Hassle at Plumpton and Mill Mount last season. He is from Leyton, County Meath, where the annual race fixture is held on the beach when the tide is out.

Murray said: "I was always on ponies as a kid. My school friend Colin Sherry, who is now riding in Kent, and I loved the crack and were always dashing about having fun on the ponies. One day a small trainer, Steven Mahon, saw us and he asked me to come and ride out in the mornings. Within a month I was schooling over fences and there was never a doubt I would become a jockey."

Soon afterwards, he joined trainer John Hills at Lambourne for nearly a year but couldn't get rides racing so he went back to Ireland where he applied for his amateur rider's permit. He got his first mounts in point-to-point and Irish National Hunt flat races before an injury setback.

Murray said: "I had a fall and broke my ankle. I came back too soon like an idiot and at schooling one day I bent the metal pins in the fracture and that kept me out of the saddle all right."

His dad was in the building trade in England so Murray, once he recovered, crossed the Irish Sea once again and began work on a site. He said: "Of course my heart wasn't in it and when I saw an advert in the Racing Post from Mr McGovern, I applied straight away."

Now he lodges in Lewes with returned jockey Michael Furlong, who himself rode 350 winners and now runs a livery stable. Furlong said of Murray: "Chris is dedicated. He rides a race every week and he is stylish. He is a good horseman too and I'm sure he will succeed."

McGovern has given Chris his chance in an overcrowded profession. He said: "The lad is a good worker in every respect and he'll make the grade all right."

One inhibiting factor at present is that Murray does not drive. Murray said: "It is a priority to get my licence and to get mobile."

The Princess Royal will be at Plumpton Races on Monday, April 3. The day is a fund-raising event for the Sydney Olympic equestrian teams. Princess Anne, who herself rode in the British team, will present the trophies after the seventh race, the Wallaby Celebrity on the flat at 5.10pm.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.