Roaring Lion battling out it with Saxon Warrior to win a thrilling Coral Eclipse at Sandown
Watching the Eclipse and then England beating Sweden on Sandown’s big screen – a great party atmosphere
Brian Hughes riding two winners at Perth, before suffering a crashing fall where his mount lay on top of him but coming away unscathed, to win two more races
Bryony Frost hoping for a quick return to the saddle this coming week after being trodden on at Newton Abbot and spending a night in hospital and being described as “very sore” – her saddle slipped unseating her and a following runner trod on her abdomen
Roy Rocket winning for the eighth time from 21 runs at Brighton and landing one of five winning Racing Hub Daily Tips during the course of the week
Over 290 entries for Tuesday’s fixture at Wolverhampton resulting in races being divided to form an extra fixture tomorrow, Monday
ITV Racing achieving a peak audience of 361,000 for its coverage of evening racing at Newcastle and then seeing a 5,000 increase in viewers the next day for the Northumberland Plate when viewing figures topped 708,000
Figures released for the first half of the year showing a 23% drop in non-runners compared to last year since the BHA warned trainers with self-certified withdrawals above a threshold would lose to the right of self-certification
The National Heritage Centre for Horseracing at Palace House, Newmarket, receiving a maximum £250,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which the Centre will use to increase visitor numbers and reach a new audience – last year the Centre was forced to make staff cuts as visitor numbers didn’t meet expectations
Injured sprinter Harry Angel, who punctured a leg in a stalls incident at Royal Ascot, making a faster than expected recovery and could still run in the July Cup at Newmarket
STEWARDS ROOM
…and what hasn’t been so good
Confusion at Sandown Park with judge Felix Wheeler calling the wrong horse as winner following a photo-finish before the result was corrected after a review, leaving bookmakers paying-out twice – the error happened the day after the BHA announced a new process where close calls would be reviewed by the stipendiary magistrate albeit that the judge could still call the result before the review, a process which the BHA said “had worked as intended”
The Gambling Commission finding that Ladbrokes had deliberately shortened the odds of a horse it knew from trainer David Evans would be a non-runner and that the bookmaker had failed to appropriately review all information available to them before initially providing the Commission with what turned out to be an inaccurate explanation for the reason the horse’s price was shortened – no action was taken against Ladbrokes but the Commission said it would monitor bookmakers’ actions in relation to non-runners and enforce formal regulatory powers if needs be
Masar’s late withdrawal from the Eclipse, not that it spoilt the race itself, but not early enough for some
