Steve Drowne making his final race a winning one when Met by Moonlight, trained by Ron Hodges, obliged at Lingfield
Newcastle Racecourse’s caterers sending unwanted food to the People’s Kitchen, a local charity supporting the disadvantaged and homeless, after the cancellation of a pre-Christmas meeting
Returntovendor, trained by Jarlath Fahey in County Kildare, bookending 2017 by winning on New Year’s Day and New Year’s Eve
Emergency stabling provided by Aintree for horses taking part in the Liverpool International Horse Show following a serious fire at a car park and temporary stabling area – there were no human or equine injuries but over 1,400 cars were destroyed
ITV Racing finishing 2017 on a high with one million viewers for Boxing Day coverage at Kempton and a peak just short of 650,000 for racing at Newbury on ITV4 a few days later
Record prize money of £160m for 2018 announced by the BHA, an increase of £17m on last year
Musselburgh having its temporary license to race extended to March 2018 by the BHA whilst an independent review continues into the running of the track by a committee of racecourse executives and members of the local authority
Alan King training his 1,500th winner when Yanworth obliged at Cheltenham
A year-long study into the provision of mental health services in racing launched by Liverpool John Moores University together with Racing Welfare and the BHA, supported by the Racing Foundation
STEWARDS ROOM
East Midlands Trains failing to run a service on New Year’s Day to Uttoxeter until mid-afternoon which, if they had, might have helped the track attract even more racegoers than the very healthy 9,000 in attendance
New Year’s Day attendance at Cheltenham dropping to 24,125 after attracting more than 30,000 racegoers in 2016 and 2017 – the day’s racing falling on a Monday with work for some the next day being blamed
Crucial Role being announced as a non-runner at Haydock because it was “dead”, but subsequently running at Uttoxeter – trainer Henry Daly hit the wrong button when withdrawing it from the Haydock race for its preferred engagement at Uttoxeter but a quick phone call to the BHA rescued the situation
Worcester Racecourse fined £5,000 by the BHA for stable boxes looking like rubbish tips, and Kelso fined £1,000 for a pitchfork left leaning in front of an open ditch
Jockey Adam Wedge bypassing a fence at Exeter which should have been jumped resulting in the disqualification of his mount, the 4-7 favourite Report to Base, and a 21-day ban for the rider
Tom Bellamy failing a breath test at Cheltenham preventing him from riding on New Year’s Day and a hearing at the BHA looming
Christmas and New Year meetings throwing up surprise results, plus testing conditions casting doubt on the form of winning horses, muddying the waters for Cheltenham and Aintree, but prompting some bookmakers to an early offering of non-runner no bet terms for the Festival
RP Ratings winning the 2017 National Press Challenger for newspaper tipsters but reported in the Post under the headline “Racing Post team retain naps crown” which is, er, another competition altogether
