STABLE and stud staff take centre stage at York Races tomorrow.

A series of races organised by the charity Racing Welfare and supported by Blue Chip Feeds pays tribute to the staff who have spent most of their lives in the sport.

The Val Greaves - 'A Lifetime In Racing' Maiden Stakes over one mile and a half salutes Val Greaves who has worked in racing for over 40 years, 33 of them at the Maunby, Thirsk, yard of trainer David Barron, latterly as assistant trainer.

She achieved a piece of racing history when she became the first lady rider to beat male professional jockeys over jumps when she won on the Barron-trained Silver Gal at Hexham in 1976.

Val is the mother of the country's most successful lady jockey, Alex Greaves, who also created her own special niche in the sport when dead-heating to win on Ya Malak, trained by her husband David Nicholls, in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York in 1997. The other horse in the dead-heat for first place was Coastal Bluff - trained by Barron.

David Nicholls is the link to the other feature race tomorrow, The Sarah Lunn Memorial Stakes, a handicap contest for sprinters over six furlongs. Lunnwas a key figure in the success of Nicholls' stable at Sessay, near Thirsk, being the trainer's secretary until her death last October at the age of 32.

Tomorrow's 'Reward Friday' meeting is a bonus day on Knavesmire as the fixture which has been transferred from Catterick where a new stables yard is being constructed.

The action starts at 2.20pm. and four of the afternoon's races are supported by leading sports betting exchange company, sportingoptions.co.uk, including The sportingoptions.co.uk Handicap Stakes over seven furlongs.

The popular 'Punters Panel' will preview the runners and riders prior to racing.

Updated: 11:07 Thursday, May 27, 2004