MANY congratulations to Dr Jennifer Pugh on being awarded this year’s Horse Racing Ireland’s Contribution to the Industry award.

The Co Down-born Senior Medical Officer with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has done Trojan work since the onset of the pandemic, putting together the protocols which ensured racing could safely continue despite the many Covid-19 rules and regulations which had to be navigated on so many different occasions.

I remember writing about the Kidd twins, Jennifer and Jackie, when they were both single and riding regularly in point-to-points.

At one stage, I referred to Jennifer as a medical student and was almost immediately contacted by her now husband, Richard Pugh, who informed me that Jennifer had already graduated and was working as a doctor.

“How the hell could that be?” I retorted. “She only looks about 10!”

Amazingly, she doesn’t look a whole lot older now!