Auxerre returning the shortest price Lincoln winner since the race was first run at Doncaster in 1965 when always looking like landing the 5/2 odds with jockey James Doyle taking an early lead and repelling all raiders to win at ease for Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby
Paul Nicholls training his 3,000th British winner with Dr Snderson winning thr 2m4f novice hurdle at Ludlow wit amateur rider Bryan Carver aboard
Petrus winning the Spring Mile at Doncaster giving jockey Tom Marquand two reasons to celebrate, it was his 21st birthday
Silvestre de Sousa landing a treble at Doncaster to make it six wins in three days since returning from riding in Hong Kong
Thunder Snow becoming the Dubai World Cup’s first duel winner when, partnered by Christophe Soumillion – the Saeed Bin Suroor trained winner was won of four for owners Godolphin at Meyadan, with Cross Country taking the Dubai Gold Cup, Old Persion the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic and Blue Point the Al Quoz Sprint, the three of them trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick
The Levy Board putting a £6.5m grant into racing’s prize-money to help counteract the loss of revenue to racecourses from the lost of media rights due to the expected closure of betting shops following this month’s cut in minimum FOBT stakes from £100 to £2 – the £6.5m is part of total £99.3m expenditure budget, a £14m increase on last year
Sky Sports Racing pulling out the stops for its debut coverage of Ascot, using a tracking camera and helicopter
BetVictor announcing they’ll honour ante-post bets set to be voided and refunded by BrightBet following the latter ceasing trading
Richard Johnson and Philip Hobbs landing a double at Fontwell which meant the Minehead trainer hit the 100-winner mark in a season for the 14th time – Gary Moore also trained a double, with sons Jamie and Josh sharing the spoils
Owner-breeder and former England footballer Michael Owen featuring in a video for the Horse Comes First campaign where the former Liverpool star shows the how horses are trained at Tom Dascombe’s yard in Cheshire of which Owen is part-owner
The Middleham Open Day on 19 April raising funds for Racing Welfare’s Hill House appeal which has a £2m target to help provide affordable accommodation for young people in the area – Mark Johnston and Jedd O’Keefe are two of the 11 trainers whose yards will be open and more details can be found at middlehamopenday.com
STEWARDS ROOM
…and what hasn’t been so good
Injury has forcing Group 1 winning Flat jockey Fran Berry to retire from the saddle following spinal injuries sustained in a fall at Wolverhampton in January – Berry, a jockey for 23 years, will concentrate on media work
Another wrong-horse mix-up, this one avoided, with the Sam Thomas Docte Dina being withdrawn by Uttoxeter’s stewards when the mare’s microchip didn’t match her passport
Towcester not being able to hold a meeting until October at the earliest as efforts continue by the new owners of the track, which went into administration over six months ago, to submit a proposal which would mean the BHA granting them a licence to race – nine fixtures have been lost so far
