LAST Friday evening was Ladies Evening at Chepstow Racecourse. We had hundreds of entrants in the best dressed lady competition and the standard was high.

It was tough to pick a winner, but the £1000 first prize eventually went to Cher Scott. Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills went down a storm after racing too and it was another successful summer’s evening.

On the track, there were some heart-warming performances by old favourites. The seven year old sprinter Quantum Dot is a real course specialist, he won at Chepstow for the fifth time, and the second time this season. He's trained by Ed de Giles, who does particularly well at Chepstow too. Grace Harris's 9 year old Living Leader has won 9 races from 76 career starts, he caused something of an upset when taking the mile handicap at 11/1. That's a 10th win this year for our local trainer.

As well as celebrating the racing stalwarts, it was also a day of firsts, with Kath's Legacy giving apprentice jockey George Rooke his first ever win in the apprentice race. Apprentice jockeys work for a particular trainer as a member of the stable staff, and hopefully get the chance to ride in a race when the trainer deems them capable. Rooke has been working for former top jockey Richard Hughes since last year, having joined the yard on a placement from the British Racing School. This was just his third race, his first being just last month.

The British Racing School offers short residential courses for aspiring jockeys and teaches the basics of horse care, including mucking out, grooming, feeding and tacking up ready for exercise, as well as riding a racehorse. The graduates then join a yard to carry on their training, and if they ride well enough, get the chance to ride as an apprentice.

George Rooke was obviously delighted to get this first win and our raceday announcer Ed Nicholson interviewed him on the podium afterwards. It was nice to see him get a big cheer from our racegoers and I'm sure a lot of us will keep an eye on his future career in the saddle. Having shown some potential he ought to get plenty of opportunities from his boss Richard Hughes, who is very supportive of young riders.

Young Irish apprentice jockey Andrew Breslin, in good form and already riding winners for his boss Mark Johnston, also rode a first Chepstow winner on Rastacap. Meanwhile trainer Adrian Wintle, who trains at Westbury on Severn in Gloucestershire, trained a first winner at the course with Gold Hunter. This horse won the Silk Series race for lady riders, the winning jockey was Jane Elliott. This was leg 2 of the 13 race series which is designed to give opportunities to, and raise the profile of lady riders.

It's important we make sure people who are looking for a career in racing get the opportunity to have a try. We do our bit too, last week and this week we've had work experience students from Wyedean and Caldicot schools, learning about business and the racing industry. They’ve been a credit to their schools and it has been a pleasure to have them.