Lingfield Park race course to play tribute to singer Davy Jones
by Nia Mason
The Monkees' lead singer Davy Jones died in Florida aged 66 on Wednesday 29th February after having a heart attack. A keen horserider, he won his first race at Lingfield Park in Surrey.
Jones was British, born in Manchester in 1945. He starred in ITV's Coronation Street as a teenager and then started his career training to be a jockey in Newmarket before returning to acting when he had his big break.
His love of horses was a lifelong passion which continued long after the television success of the Monkees' television show in the 1960s and thereafter. Davy Jones lived in Hampshire for a time and achieved one of his greatest ambitions by winning his first race as a jockey at Lingfield Park in 1996.
On Saturday at the famous ground two horse races are being named after him - Hey, Hey We're the Monkees & In Memory of Davy Jones. A memorial plaque will also be laid.
