Chairman of Ladbrokes Coral's parent company set to step down

The chairman of Ladbrokes Coral's parent company GVC Holdings is set to step down, although the group insisted it had nothing to do with his recent sale of shares in the company.

Sky News has reported that Lee Feldman, who was criticised for selling off a £6 million stake in GVC this month, will leave the board no later than next year's annual general meeting.

Feldman has been chairman since 2008 and a change to the UK corporate governance code last year stated that chairs of a listed company should stay in position for no more than nine years.

A spokesperson for GVC said succession planning had been "informally under way for a while" and pre-dated the share sale.

GVC shares were down nearly two per cent at 521.5p on Friday afternoon.

New York tie-up for Matchbook

Matchbook betting exchange has agreed a new three-year sponsorship deal with York.

The firm will back four ITV-televised races over the course of the Thursday and Friday of the Dante meeting, including the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup.

Mark Brosnan, CEO of Matchbook, said: “We are delighted to be expanding our horseracing sponsorship portfolio with this three-year commitment and particularly with such a historic race as the Matchbook Yorkshire Cup.

"This comes at a key time of the year for us with the Flat season really getting going and Royal Ascot a matter of weeks away.”

Touch of Frost on ITV

ITV Racing revealed on Friday that jockey Bryony Frost, currently sidelined with a broken collarbone, will join its team on the Friday and Saturday of the Randox Health Grand National meeting next month.

She said: "It will be awesome to be joining the ITV Racing show over the two days at Aintree, even though being stood on the floor will be something I will struggle to handle! To join ITV and ‘speak and show’ through my eyes one of the greatest races in the world will be epic!"

Yorkshire stud signs Thirsk Hunt Cup deal

A historic Helmsley-based stud farm, once owned by the late Sir Henry Cecil, has signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Thirsk to back the track's most prestigious race the Thirsk Hunt Cup, until at least 2021.

Yorkshire businessman Paul Sutherland, who acquired Cliff Stud in 2017, said: "We place owners and trainers at the heart of our business and are very proud to be sponsoring a local, historic and high-profile race such as the Thirsk Hunt Cup."

The Thirsk Hunt Cup began in 1859, with the intention of bringing together the country's leading hunters, with the first winner taking home the princely sum of 30 sovereigns. These days the race is a competitive Flat mile handicap worth £40,000 run this year on Saturday, May 4.

Thirsk clerk of the course James Sanderson said: "With Cliff Stud's generous support we will see the race's prize-money grow to at least £50,000 by 2021."

Tattersalls steps up Newmarket backing

Tattersalls is set to sponsor the July Stakes and Princess of Wales’s Stakes, both Group 2s, while their sponsorship of the Falmouth Stakes, Tattersalls Stakes and October Auction Stakes has been extended in a new deal with Newmarket Racecourses.

Racecourse managing director Amy Starkey said: “Newmarket racecourses and Tattersalls are not only neighbours but world leaders in their fields so it is only right we should enjoy a fruitful partnership for the benefit of the town of Newmarket as a whole.

“We are delighted Tattersalls have elected not only to maintain their existing sponsorships at Newmarket but to expand their portfolio and we look forward to watching some of the world’s best horses compete for the five prestigious Tattersalls-sponsored prizes during the next three years.”

New fixture at Bangor after loss of Towcester

Towcester's meeting on April 26 has been cancelled, with Bangor holding an additional fixture on the same day. Bangor's fixture will be a seven-race card, with race programme details and further fixture information available via the Racing Admin website www2.racingadmin.co.uk

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