JUMP racing will continue to be at the heart of Wetherby Racecourse, the track's chief executive Jonjo Sanderson reassured guests at the Go Racing in Yorkshire Annual Awards Lunch.

The A1 track will host Flat racing for the first time on April 26 next year as part of a series of fixtures after a successful trial in the summer.

With Wetherby set to stage its big Christmas meeting on Boxing Day and December 27, there have been some fears the allocation could be the first step to abandoning National Hunt racing.

But Jonjo Sanderson, Wetherby chief executive, said: "It is going to be a historical year and one which is going to see some significant chance at Wetherby. We are very much looking forward to it. We have been knocking on that door for a few years now and it is great to finally get the go ahead and move forward.

"Jumping has always been, and will always be, the number one activity at Wetherby Racecourse. We have got some fantastic facilities and we just want to use them all the time.

"The track, since the realignment of 2006, is there to be used and we just see a few Flat fixtures in the summer as the best way of doing that."

The leading Flat trainer and jockey prizes at the Awards Lunch went to Malton's Richard Fahey and Graham Lee.

Musley Bank-based Fahey won the title for the fifth time - his final tally of 79 winners on the Yorkshire tracks over the campaign from March to November breaking his previous record of 70 five years earlier.

Lee, a three time winner of the Yorkshire jump jockeys' award, became the leading rider on the Flat for the first time. His tally of 49 was the same as Boroughbridge rider Paul Mulrennan but Lee recorded more runners-up places over the course of the campaign.

Fahey, who had a record number of winners during the campaign and earned record prize money, said: "I will try and get 80 next year."

The jumps gongs went to Donald McCain and Jason Maguire. Megan Carberry, who rides out of Norton trainer Brian Ellison's stable, won the Future Stars Series.