THE start of the Flat turf season this weekend will be immediately followed by another eagerly-awaited racing event.

Monday is D-day for building contractors Illingworth & Gregory to hand over the keys of Jack Berry House to the Injured Jockeys’ Fund as the £3.1 million state-of-the-art jockeys’ rehabilitation and fitness centre in Old Malton nears completion.

There will still be a myriad of minor jobs and general tidying to do once the site is cleared, but the final furlong of this hugely exciting project and all-important Ryedale facility has been reached, some 14 months after the excavators moved in to make Jack Berry’s dream of having such a centre in the north of England a glorious reality.

“It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” said Berry last week as he wandered around the impressive facility as 60 workmen added the finishing touches.

“There’s been no cutting of corners, no half-measures. All the materials used have been top-quality.”

The apple of Berry’s eye is the Reuben Foundation Hydrotherapy Pool, which was installed before Christmas but which was filled with water and “put through its paces” by specialist Jonathan Herbert last week.

It is one of only three models in the entire country. “One is at Sports Wales in Cardiff and the other at Manchester United,” said Herbert.

Berry describes the facility, which will greatly aid the recovery of injured jockeys and ease the pain of those with long-standing problems, who can make use of the disabled hoists to enter the 4ft 6in deep heated pool, as his “pride and joy”. He added: “Just think of what benefits it will provide. We are so grateful to the Reuben Foundation for not only installing it, but agreeing to maintain it for two years.”

Jack Berry House contains everything. There are consulting rooms, a conference room, an equicisor room and a massive gym, which is named after Don’t Push It to celebrate the legendary achievements of his Grand National-winning jockey AP McCoy.

It also has a respite wing, comprising four bedrooms, a games room, communal kitchen and sitting room.

Jo Russell, the recently-appointed resident manager, is hugely excited at the prospect of putting some heart and soul into Jack Berry House in the coming weeks, months and years.

“I’m so over the moon to be here and to be part of this,” said Russell, who, having spent the last 30 years in Lambourn – 15 as secretary to trainer Clive Cox, was brought up in Malton. “The reaction I’ve had from everyone I’ve met has been one of great enthusiasm. There’s a real buzz about the place.”

Part of the massive fundraising effort to bring Jack Berry House to fruition was the selling – at £50 a time – of inscribed bricks.

The total sold was more than 2,500, 600 of which were inscribed with the names of favourite horses. The bricks are now in place and the life-sized statue of Jack Berry is also installed though, for the moment, it is wrapped from prying eyes. Not until the Princess Royal conducts the official opening ceremony on June 2 will it be unveiled. “They lowered it into position by its neck,” jokes Berry. “It was the first hanging in Yorkshire in centuries.”

Jack Berry House will be up and running long before the Royal visitor cuts the ribbon. This week sees the arrival of IT and gym equipment and a whole load of furniture. The end is in sight. Something new and exciting is about to get under way.

Jo Russell sums up the mood, the feeling and the anticipation. She said: “I think everyone in Malton – and in racing – and everyone who has contributed in so many different ways should be very proud of it.”

 

• BABUR, trained by the late Captain Charles Elsey at Norton’s Highfield Stables, was the last horse to win the Lincoln Handicap twice. Come Saturday, more than half-a-century on, Ocean Tempest will attempt to do the same – with a Highfield apprentice on his back.

The gelding, trained at Newmarket by John Ryan, will be partnered in Doncaster’s £100,000 BetBright-sponsored curtain-raiser by Joe Doyle as he attempts to emulate Babur back in 1957 and 1958.

“John Ryan was very good to me last year and it’s a great ride to get,” says Doyle, who is apprenticed to John Quinn, whose Blythe Knight won the Lincoln in 2006.

“I won a good handicap on Ocean Tempest at Chester last August when he was rated 115. There’s not many horses who win handicaps off that kind of mark,” says Doyle, who returned to race-riding earlier this month and booted home his first winner of 2015 on Goldmachen at Chelmsford last week.

Opposition to Ocean Tempest will be fierce in such a competitive race, but Richard Fahey and David O’Meara are set to be strongly represented.

Fahey is aiming to saddle Gabrial and Gabrial’s Kaka, both owned by Dr Marwan Koukash, for whom the Malton trainer won the race in 2012 with Brae Hill.

While Gabrial was a winner in Dubai last winter, Gabrial’s Kaka, after finishing unplaced behind Ocean Tempest in the Lincoln, won the Newbury Spring Cup on his next outing.

Spirit Of The Law, a York winner last summer, had also been pencilled in to represent the Musley Bank trainer, but looks unlikely to make the cut.

O’Meara saddles a most interesting runner in Mondialiste, who will be making his British debut after being bought for 190,000 euros. Previously trained in France by Freddy Head, the five-year-old won one of his six races and was beaten less than two lengths in the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly in June 2013.

Penitent, successful in the 2010 Lincoln for William Haggas, could also carry the O’Meara flag and likewise Robert The Painter, who finished a fine third in the race 12 months ago, while Norton trainer Brian Ellison is aiming to run Baraweez, who developed into a useful handicapper last season.

 

• OSCAR ROCK may have failed to fulfil his enormous promise over hurdles last season, but the Ryedale gelding has returned to form with a vengeance over fences.

Continuing the dramatic revival in form of the Malcolm Jefferson stable, Oscar Rock followed up a Newcastle victory by gaining back-to-back chasing wins at Kelso last Saturday when scoring by a decisive nine lengths under Brian Hughes.

He could now be heading to Aintree’s Grand National meeting. “He’ll certainly have an entry there,” said Jefferson. “There will be options for him at Ayr and Perth. He jumps well and seems to like this better ground.”

 

• COMMISERATIONS to all at Tim Easterby’s Great Habton yard over the tragedy which befell Tiptoeaway at Kelso last Saturday.

The Trevor Hemmings-owned gelding had just produced a performance of sheer grit and determination to gain a half-length triumph under Brian Harding in the two-mile one-furlong handicap chase when he collapsed and died after the race. It was a desperate fate for a brave horse and a popular character at Habton Grange Stables.

Tiptoeaway, a 10-year-old, won seven of his 22 races, including five from 15 over fences, and amassed prize money of more than £35,000.