‘Bugger, that worked perfectly’ - no more flags, fiascos and false starts (almost) as British racing is dragged into the modern age

At Epsom in June 2023, at 21 minutes and 17 seconds past three, four of the 20 starting stalls for the five-furlong Dash failed to open at the same time as the others. The four horses concerned were inconvenienced for almost a micro-second, but the result was allowed to stand and the race was branded a "farce", mostly by the owners, trainers and jockeys of those four horses, although losing punters were also aggrieved. The argument rumbled on for days, the flames not doused by a media that knew the value of a good hard-luck story.

Meanwhile, in a grave in Kensal Green Cemetery, London W10, Admiral Henry Rous could be heard turning impatiently, intent on adding his two penn'orth to the story.

The good admiral, renowned as one of the great forward thinkers of racing in the 19th century, would have watched the Dash with interest, no doubt comparing and contrasting with his own efforts to get races off on time and without undue controversy when he was a steward of the Jockey Club.