THE MAYNORA STORY
It all started with a trip to Malton on a beautiful summer’s morning — bright, early, and full of anticipation. We jumped in the car and headed to Craig Lidster’s racing yard. At that point, we’d only filmed content at one yard before, so we were still finding our feet, but excited nonetheless.
On arrival, it quickly became clear this was a tight-knit operation. Meeting Craig himself, along with Dan, Millie and Matty, we felt immediately welcome — the banter started flowing straight away. Little did we know then that this would be the first of many visits, and the beginning of a genuine friendship and professional relationship.
Not coming from racing backgrounds ourselves, we’ve always felt there’s so much information and insight that racing fans don’t always get access to — often down to something as simple as not knowing what to look for. How a horse exercises at home, the different gallops used, the nuances of yard routines — these are things we love, and things we wanted to bring to Paddock Preview viewers through interviews and video content.
Malton, in Yorkshire, is home to quite a few racing yards and is a fantastic place to train horses. You really get a sense of that when you’re up on the gallops. One standout moment was bumping into Brian Ellison at Langton Wold, talking about his horses that have run in Australia — all while enjoying a proper Yorkshire Tea back at Craig’s yard.
Fast forward six months and we’d created a huge amount of content for the Lidster yard — from gallops, to behind-the-scenes on racedays, to interviews. From New Year’s Day onwards, discussions began about something even bigger: a one-year journey sponsoring a horse.
That horse is Maynora — part of the Craig Lidster Racing Syndicate and currently being campaigned throughout the all-weather season.
Our first raceday as sponsors came at Southwell on January 1st. Being there not just as content creators, but as sponsors, was surreal. Seeing our logo on the front of the PJ McDonald silks as he walked into the parade ring was a very special moment.
Maynora finished 5th, with the winner being a well-handicapped Juddmonte horse. There were some nice pieces of form from that race, and we were excited to see where he’d go next.
That next run came on a Monday night at Dunstall Park, where dreams are made! Jimma made the trip from Bournemouth — an opportunity we couldn’t miss — to potentially see Maynora win live in the flesh. He ran a much better race, making the running and just fading late. The result? A 4th-place finish.
That opened the door to a quick turnaround — an entry on the Thursday of the same week at Newcastle.
This time, Matty took over race-day duties, heading straight from work for the two-hour drive to the North East. On a stiff track that suited Maynora far better, he ran his best race to date. Him and his stablemate surged clear, but Maynora stayed on strongly and finished agonisingly close to tipping Surgeon Commander on the line.
A very strong run — and one that leaves us genuinely excited about what’s to come.
This is just the beginning. We’ll be sharing the full journey — the ups, the downs, and everything in between — as we sponsor Maynora throughout the year.
Stay tuned, and thank you for being part of the ride.
