By royal appointment?
WINNERS ENCLOSURE
What’s been good in racing…
- “And now the world awaits the decision, will the equine queen go over to meet Her Majesty” the racecourse commentator after Winx wins a world-record 17th Group 1 race (and 24th consecutive victory) when taking the George Rider
- William Haggas equalling a 100-year-old record of sending out a fourth Lincoln Handicap winner when Addeybb, ridden by James Doyle, swept home at Doncaster by two-and-three-quarter lengths from race favourite Lord Glitters
- Regal Flow picking up Uttoxeter’s Midlands Grand National over 4m2f just five days after he’d won at Taunton over 3m4f – it was conditional rider Sean Houlihan’s biggest win to date on the Bob Buckler trained 11-year-old
- Jockey Paddy Brennan having his front teeth knocked out when the horse he was riding threw his head back, but being fixed up with speedy dental repair organised by fellow rider and owner of a chain of dental practices Sam Whaley-Cohen
- Bridget Andrews continuing to benefit from her boyfriend Harry Skelton being side-lined, with follow-up victories to her Cheltenham triumph at Newbury and Ascot over the weekend
- Staging consolation races for horses which missed out on running at Cheltenham resulting in well-supported handicaps at Kempton
- A cleaner from Tiverton, Martin Palk, making a good a promise to six betting shop friends that he’d take them to Las Vegas if the final leg of a £1 ew Lucky 31 came in – his horse, Missed Approach, obliged and he won £168,000
- Longchamp revealing its redeveloped course, with its first meeting on 8 April, and rebranded as ParisLongchamp
- Plumpton adding a £50,000 Champion Chase 0-145 feature race to its Easter Monday card, run over an extended 2m3f – the two-day fixture starts on Easter Sunday and both days offer over £100,000 prize-money
- More than 3,000 students attending Cork’s student raceday – one enterprising student got directly in touch with The Racing Hub asking for tips and we were able to oblige with two winners from three selections, the third being a non-runner
STEWARDS ROOM
…and what hasn’t been so good
- Industrial action by racecourse staff becoming a distinct possibility after meetings between representatives of Musselburgh and East Lothian Council broke down following the local authority’s intention to take control of running the track
- Chepstow closing part of its grandstand due to flooding – the same fate befell Ascot’s Annual Badgeholders’ Room but members were offered the sixth-floor Panoramic Restaurant as an alternative leading many to say that there was no need to hurry with the repairs
- The start of a race at Haydock being delayed due to a race still being run at Limerick, leading to the following exchange between two Racing UK presenters: “The start’s going be delayed as we’re waiting for a race to finish at Limerick where they have another circuit to go”; “Hang on, I’ll check how long the race is”; “You don’t have to, they’ve got a circuit to go, you clown!”
- A race at Ascot being delayed because the starter’s rostrum had been set up in the wrong place which was only noticed minutes before the scheduled off-time
- Owner Stephen Burnett disqualified for 15 months for twice laying his own horse – “I was backing my opinion and did it in good faith”
- Great Western Railways doing their best yet again to deter people going to Newbury by suddenly changing the platform of a Reading-bound train and without any announcement, forcing scores of returning racegoers to rush over the footbridge as the train was pulling in – the train then left 15 minutes late without explanation
- Jamie Moore picking up a 14-day non-trier suspension on Kings Monarch at Chepstow which, unless an appeal is successful, means he will miss the Grand National meeting – trainer Kerry Lee was fined £3,000 the horse is banned from running for 40 days
