'I'm very much looking forward to it' - Franny Norton excited by full book of rides on final day in the saddle at Chester

There is no better place than Chester for Franny Norton to have his final day in the saddle on Saturday and the popular jockey is hoping to be among the winners with a full book of rides on the seven-race card.

Norton, 54, has mounts for Charlie Johnston, Darryll Holland, William Haggas, Richard Fahey, Ian Williams and Gary and Josh Moore on a raceday when his career will be celebrated.

Officials at Chester have made a special effort to honour the longstanding 'King of the Roodee'. Norton will be given a special memento as well as his personalised weighing room tag, while his friends and family have been invited to see him off in style. Plans are also being put in place to facilitate a jockeys' guard of honour.

Norton said: "I'm very much looking forward to the day. I might do a U-turn and see if I can get seven rides somewhere else and keep telling them I'm retiring!

"All of my rides have chances. Raneenn (3.05) would have to be my best chance but Small Fry (4.45) won well last time and Qitaal (5.20) has run well at Chester.

"I'm drawn wide enough in the sprints, which could be tricky, but let's see what happens. I'd love to be among the winners."

Franny Norton: "He's been a very loyal, humorous and hard-working member of the team"Credit: Edward Whitaker

Few will feel the impact of Norton's retirement as deeply as Johnston and the trainer has lined up a horse in the hope to give the jockey a farewell winner in his own race.

Norton announced his retirement from the saddle this week and will not be missed anywhere more than on the Roodee, where he has ridden more than 150 winners, including the Mark Johnston-trained 2019 Chester Cup on Making Miracles.

"It's going to be the end of an era," said Charlie Johnston. "He's been a huge part of the team for a number of years now and his assets as a jockey are obviously crucial, but his assets as a person are equally as important.

"He's been a very loyal, humorous and hard-working member of the team. It's sad to see him go, but hopefully in dreamland we'll send him out on a winner."

Johnston has provided Norton with two chances to land a final winner, with his final ride Qitaal having been laid out for the closing Abacus Securities Farewell To Franny Norton Handicap (5.20).

He said: "Wadacre Giorgio was very green first time at Lingfield and this is probably quite a tough ask for him, but Wadacre Stud have had a lot of winners with Franny over the years and been big supporters of his, so they were keen to have a runner for him.

"I've kept Qitaal back for a few weeks with this race in mind as I knew this was going to be Franny's last meeting. He's been running in a much higher grade than this for much of the season, he's run well at the track earlier in the year, and he handles some cut in the ground, so I'd like to think he's got a very good chance."

Read these next:

'I'm now ready to move on' - weighing room veteran Franny Norton calls time on 36-year career 

'My only regret is I didn't discover him ten years earlier' - Mark Johnston leads tributes to retiring Franny Norton

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