1 week Ago
The life of a former racehorse owner and member of a racing family will be celebrated this weekend. Brighton Racecourse regular John Heal, who died earlier this year at the age of 81, will be remembered on Saturday. When the flat season, where there are no jumps, opens this weekend at Brighton, the Heal family will be in attendance to honour John.
The feature race – the John Charles Heal Memorial Handicap - will be run in recognition of the lifelong Brighton Racecourse-goer, who watched racing at Whitehawk Hill, as well as at Plumpton and Fontwell racecourses, for over 40 years. As well as being a spectator, John was also an established owner with a string of horses including High Heaven, which was trained by local trainer Charlie Moore and ridden by his son, Gary. John's father, Jimmy, was a racehorse owner, as is his son Ryan (Image: Supplied) As well as celebrating the life of his late father, Ryan Heal will also be continuing a family tradition.
For 15 years from 1985, Brighton Racecourse held a race that was named after John’s father – and Ryan’s grandfather – Jimmy Heal. Read more: Popular city festival venue will not return this year That race was named in Jimmy’s honour and sponsored by John. Now, it is the turn of Ryan to do the same for his own father.
Ryan, who is also a racehorse owner, said: “When my father died a few months ago, one of the first things I wanted to do in his memory was to arrange a memorial race at Brighton. “My father had done the same for his father, going all the way back to 1985, so we are keeping a little bit of history going – another son, arranging a memorial race for his father. “My family have always been huge racing fans and I can remember when I was young, the days when we would attend in honour of my grandfather and there would be upwards of 50 family members there.
“This time, there will again be lots of family in attendance on Saturday and it should be a very special day.”.
