JP pulls horses after tragedy
JP McMANUS withdrew his runners at Punchestown and Warwick yesterday after the shock death of his daughter- in- law Emma at the age of 40.
McManus’s green- andgold silks were due to be represented by nine horses at the two meetings.
But they were declared as non- runners, along with the pair who were set to carry his colours at Tramore this afternoon.
Announcing that McManus would not be running his horses for the foreseeable future, the Irish billionaire’s racing manager Frank Berry said: “It’s a very sad time for all the family.” Emma, who recently celebrated her 10th wedding anniversary with McManus’s son John, was taken ill at the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados – where the pair’s families had flown to celebrate Christmas and the New Year – on Wednesday morning.
She was taken from Sandy Lane, part- owned by her father- in- law, to a medical centre on the island but was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
■ WARREN GREATREX yesterday won his appeal against a £ 3,000 fine for schooling 250- 1 outsider Beaufort in public at Newbury 16 days ago.
Jockey Gavin Sheehan, who received a 14- day suspension after the fouryear- old had finished fourth in the Boscasports The Retail Bookmakers Choice Maiden Hurdle, had his ban reduced to seven days.
■ PAUL NICHOLLS toasted a “brilliant” achievement as Shearer gave his Ditcheat stable its 100th winner of the season with a nine- length victory in the two- mile bumper at Warwick yesterday.