'We're going into the unknown' - King Richard III lives on in race name as Leicester reinvents feature race

Leicester has saved the race title of its former flagship race in honour of King Richard III and will be the name of a new handicap on its Saturday card, which will be run in front of the ITV4 cameras.

The Listed King Richard III Stakes was one of the races culled by the BHA review committee after only having a field of three last year, when it was deemed among the handful of Group and Listed races to be axed to improve field sizes in other races during the calendar.

However, the track has salvaged the title and prize-money by trying to reinvent the race as a handicap over a mile and has attracted 8 runners, including Easter Classic winner Notre Belle Bete.

Previously known as the Leicestershire Stakes and at one time a Group 3 contest, the then seven furlong event had its name changed to the King Richard III Stakes when his remains were found in a car park adjacent to Leicester Cathedral in 2013. It will now be run as the King Richard III Cup handicap.

Leicester's clerk of the course Jimmy Stevenson said: "It’s a shame that our only Listed race has gone but the King Richard III Stakes in its old format had been short of runners for years. The board wanted to change things around a bit and try a good quality handicap to keep the name going. We’ll see how it goes this year and it’s gone up from seven furlongs to a mile.

“There is no change to the prize money which has stayed at £50,000, but obviously the qualification has changed and the style of race. We’re going into the unknown but hopefully it will be a bit more competitive.”

The final running of the race in its old format was won by Happy Power a year ago, while the useful Home Of The Brave had won it twice in successive years.

Stevenson added: “In recent years we struggled to get more than five runners in the race which was sometimes down the ground, but not always. Sometimes you’ve tended to get a good horse in it which has meant others didn’t declare.”

As the reinvented race is now run on the round course, the runners will have some hope of using the starting stalls, something that was not possible on the straight track at the course’s opening fixture when the races on it were flag starts.

Stevenson added: “At the last meeting here on April 14 it rained all day, which meant we couldn’t get the stalls across the straight track as you have to get across at the bend where there is a chute. We were okay on the round course but the races on the straight course had to be started by flag.”

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