Winning Dodds
Charity will get half of prize money
A horse named in honour of rugby legend Doddie Weir has won the opening race at Doncaster – triggering a £ 9000 windfall for the late star’s charity. Doddie’s Impact, r idden by teenage jockey Billy Loughnane, beat the favour i te Valadero to win in the Brocklesby Stakes. Half of the £18,000 prize money will now go to Weir’s Motor Neurone Disease charity, the My Name’5
LEGEND The late Doddie Weir
Doddie Foundation, setup in 2017 to fund research and treatment.
The former Scotland international died at the age of 52 in November, six years after he was diagnosed.
Inspired by Doddie’s story, race horse firm Cross Channel Racing worked with his foundation to name the new horse and agreed to donate half of its winnings.
Cross Channel’s racing director, Karl Pearson, said: “One of his missions, towards the back end of the last 18 months of Doddie’s life, was to leave some impact behind.
“Myself and one of the owners at Cross Channel know one of the guys that works for Kenny Logan, Doddie’s former Scotland teammate and friend, so we invited him down three or four months ago to come and see what we were doing and he really enjoyed it.
“We’re doing it because we want to contribute to the charity.
“Obviously it’s a great cause and we’ve come up with a very special arrangement where 50 per cent of anything raised goes back to the charity.”
Jockey Loughnane added: “It’s class. I’d been in during the week to have a sit on him and I thought he’d go close. I think he had a tough opponent today but he knuckled down well and he wanted to win.”
Mike Hocking, who part-owns the winning horse, said: “It’s all about raising money and awareness for MND to try to find a cure.”