Welcome

A very warm welcome to our Phoenix Utilities Lanark Silver Bell Racenight, which is set to be a historic evening for Hamilton Park. Tonight’s feature race for the Lanark Silver Bell has been a highlight of our racing calendar since 2008 and since it’s inception we have held ambitions to improve the quality of the race. We are delighted that we will see those ambitions realised this evening, with tonight’s renewal being run as a prestigious Heritage Handicap for the very first time. With prize money of £100,000 up for grabs, this will be the most valuable race ever staged at Hamilton Park and the richest race being run in the UK today – I for one cannot wait to see who’s name will be added to the iconic trophy this evening! Our title sponsor this evening is Phoenix Utilities Ltd, who have signed up to a multi-year deal to support this fixture. This company is one of the fastest growing and innovative utility providers across Scotland and having them support our most historic race meeting is fantastic. We wish Kenny Nicol, CEO of Phoenix Utilities and all the company’s guests a wonderful evening. We have a full card ofvalued sponsors this evening, some of whom have partnered with us for many years. Patersons of Greenoakhill, EBF, Whysettle IT, Contraflow Traffic Management, Elmwood Project and PDM Buildbase. Thank you all foryour continued support of Hamilton Park and I hope you enjoy tonight’s racing and entertainment. At 6.53pm our attentions will focus on our feature race, the Phoenix Utilities Ltd Lanark Silver Bell, where we have a full field of high-quality runners set to contest our first ever Heritage Handicap. At the top of the weights we have the William Haggas trained Pride of Priory and Dark Jedi, trained by Tim Easterby. Both trainers are previous winners of this contest and will be keen to add their name to the roll of honour once more. Kevin Ryan runs Forza Orta, who is a two-time winner at Hamilton, including the Buttonhook Handicap on our opening day in May. Our congratulations go to Mark Johnston who this week celebrated a landmark 5,000th career winner and extends his position as Britain’s winning most trainer. Mark is a five-time winner of the Silver Bell and is double-handed for tonight’s race with March Law and State of Bliss. Jim Goldie has also targeted this race with two runners, with veteran 10yr old Sir Chauvelin a three-time winner here, along with leading Owner Jimmy Long’s Wickywickywheels, who has an incredible four wins at Hamilton so far in 2022. I wish all of tonight’s runners and riders the very best of luck. AfterracingthiseveningwewelcomebacktheeverpopularGeorgeBowieandhisGBXAnthems. Grab a glowstick and get your dancing shoes on as he is sure to have the crowd dancing through until 10pm tonight. As we head towards September, our season is still going strong with four more fixtures. Next week it’s Wednesday evening for the final evening meeting of the year, with a short break before our fixtures on 18 and 19 September. We close out the season on September Holiday Monday for our Maggie’s Goes Racing Family Raceday on 26 September. Be sure to take advantage of the best prices for tickets on our website at www.hamilton-park.co.uk as we have some excellent discounts available whenyou bookin advance. Have a great evening and I hope you back a winner or two! Kind Regards ASHLEY MOON, RACECOURSE MANAGING DIRECTOR