Racecourse director Stanley out for a local win in historic race

Newmarket racecourse director Frances Stanley will take time out from her official duties at the July course on Thursday to have her first ride in public in the Town Plate.

The Plate, which is believed to be the oldest race in the world, has been moved this year to provide a curtain-raiser to the three-day Moet & Chandon July festival and to mark 350 years since its first staging in 1666.

Staged over a three-mile-six-furlong course used only once a year, the Town Plate is usually run for just a box of local Powters sausages, but this year the prizes include a replica of King Charles II's famous challenge whip, the original of which hangs in the Jockey Club Rooms and bears hairs from the tail of Eclipse.