Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:20 pm on 16 November 2022.
I'm grateful for the Member giving me time in his debate, because it is vitally important that, as someone who grew up riding horses—not as proficiently as a certain Member of Parliament who's taking a vacation in a certain jungle at the moment—I was one of those who was out mucking out horses et cetera, and I understand the industry; it's absolutely alive and well in the rural parts of our constituencies. And it's where, through the love of point-to-point racing, at Lydstep in my constituency—. That's the breeding ground for a lot of these jockeys who go on to be incredibly successful. I know Llyr mentioned in opening one certain Pembrokeshire jockey, Sean Bowen, who I was in school with—he's a few years younger than me and a few stone lighter also—but I'd also pay testament to Alan Johns, a good friend of mine, who is another Fishguard school alumni, so there must be something in the water in Abergwaun that we're delivering so many high-class jockeys.
But it's definitely a case that I don't think we celebrate those who are doing so well in horse-racing as we do, potentially, some other sports starts that we have in Wales. And we have an abundance of those being successful in this field of competition. So, I pay testament to them, pay testament to all those grooms who work hard, and the stable liveries around Wales, making sure that we are punching above our weight when it comes to horse-racing. And I think it's excellent that we've been given an opportunity this evening, this afternoon, to pay testament to that, and I'm grateful to the Member for that. Diolch.