Veteran doubles, pool take-outs, tout fines and more
WINNERS ENCLOSURE
What’s been good in racing
- A double for 14-year-olds at Sandown with Ratify taking the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Memorial Amateur Rider Handicap Hurdle, with Sally Randall coming out of retirement in order to ride him (and then going back into retirement), and next day Pete The Feat holding off Horatio Hornblower by a neck to win a three-mile handicap chase, his third Sandown win in six visits
- “Stephen Spielberg should give Daryl Jacob a job” – bookmaker Geoff Banks after seeing the televised stewards’ enquiry following the Imperial Cup where accusations of interference and intimidation were made when Jamie Bargary on Mr Antolini and Jacob on Call Me Lord had a coming together just before the winning post with Bargary keeping the race won by a neck but getting a three-day ban for careless riding
- Reduced take-outs and a bigger contribution to racing announced by a new partnership between Fred Done and a financial syndicate to own the Tote
- A race-specific scanning identity check introduced to cross-reference a horse’s microchip with the list of runners for each race, triggering an alert if the wrong horse is brought from the stabling area
- Sandown Park’s new trackside entrance – a pavilion-style building replacing a tent and a proper path replacing mud
- A new through-train service from Brighton to Cambridge via St Pancras offering a new route to Newmarket (via Cambridge) and Brighton Racecourse
- Ticket touts facing an £80 fine for a public space offence if found operating between Cheltenham town centre and Prestbury Park
- Jockey Liz Kelley joining BBC Radio Five Live for their Cheltenham coverage
STEWARDS ROOM
…and what hasn’t been so goo
- Trainers leaving it to confirm Festival running plans at Preview Nights – who runs where should be announced at the earliest opportunity
- The Racing Post costing £2.90 every day (an increase was inevitable but this seems somewhat severe)
- A dead rat discovered in a stabling box at Leicester
- Racehorse syndicate operator Nick Bradley withdrawing his offer of free training fees for anyone buying a share in one of his horses before noon 14 March should Samco get beaten at Cheltenham – it wasn’t meant seriously
