Organiser CJ Cooper, from Henfield, admits she has been left overwhelmed by the volume of gifts kind-hearted racegoers have sent to her house for those at the Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice in Arundel and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton.
And not only has Cooper helped to collect hundreds of presents for those children who will not be spending Christmas time at home with loved ones, she has also helped raise £4,047 through an online auction of racing memorabilia which will be spent on more toys.
However, while delighted with the response to the appeal, which Cooper set up after spending £3,000 from the winnings off a Lucky 15 she struck at the 2021 November Meeting, she insists it was only after a close friend died earlier this year that she decided to go ahead with it again.
Cooper said: "I wasn’t planning on doing the appeal this year as I received a lot of negative comments on social media from some people when all this appeal is about is trying to help children.
"I was at the Lambourn Open Day on Good Friday and I sent my friend Martin Dalgleish a picture of me with Nicky Henderson, but I got no response from him and I thought that was weird.
“I later managed to get in touch with his brother after the open day and he told me that Martin died in his sleep on the night of Good Friday. That spurred me on and motivated me to do the appeal once again as Martin would have been the first to tell me not to take notice of the trolls online as he was always so positive.
"I posted a message up on X (formerly Twitter) saying I was planning to do the Christmas wish list appeal again and gifts then started arriving from both the hospital and hospice’s wish lists from racing fans.
“I’ve been sent more gifts than I expected as I thought with the cost of living going up I didn’t think people would have the spare cash, but luckily I’ve been proved wrong."
The ardent Chelsea FC supporter, and fan of leading Flat jockey Jim Crowley, has also given the backing by some of the biggest organisations within the sport for her online auction. Included in the lots that were up for grabs was a print of City Of Troy signed by Aidan O’Brien, a print of Hukum signed by Crowley and two baseball caps, and a set of riding breeches signed by Oisin Murphy and tickets to next month's Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham donated by The Jockey Club.
Money from the auction has since been spent on a PlayStation 5 for the hospice with the remainder of the cash set to be split on purchasing the remaining items required on both wish lists before the gifts are distributed across December 20 and 21.
Cooper said: “I’ve had so many wonderful racing packages donated by the likes of Coolmore, Godolphin, Shadwell, Juddmonte, Cheveley Park and The National Stud to name a few.
“We had a print of Constitution Hill make £205 and four tickets for any day of the Craven Meeting, with lunch, donated by Al Basti Equiworld, finished as the top lot at £400.
“We beat last year’s total by £47, but I said if we got the £479 we needed from the auction to buy the PlayStation 5 then I would have been happy with that.
“I think what this has shown is what great people are involved in racing and how the sport can come together as one in getting behind such a worthwhile event to help those that are less fortunate."
