Branding boost: prominence given to responsible gambling at football grounds

GambleAware and Bet Regret advertisements will take on extra prominence during the football season, which commences on Friday, after GVC Holdings, the parent company to Ladbrokes Coral, donated branding rights from its sponsorship deals.

Interview backgrounds and LED boards for games in the Scottish Professional Football League, which is sponsored by Ladbrokes, will instead display Bet Regret branding.

GVC will make similar arrangements with 42 clubs with which it has relationships, including Burnley and Sheffield United in the Premier League.

Patrick Kerr, GVC's director of safe gambling, said: "While we want football fans to be able to enjoy a bet we recognise the importance of doing this in a safe, responsible way.

"Handing over this valuable inventory to GambleAware is a demonstration that we are committed to helping our customers bet in a safe and responsible way.

"We look forward to continuing to promote the Bet Regret campaign in the future to help increase awareness about safer gambling."

The move was welcomed by GambleAware, which in February launched the Bet Regret campaign aimed at the 2.4 million men, aged 16-34 year-olds, who bet regularly on sport.

The announcement follows the gambling sector's self-imposed 'whistle-to-whistle' advertising ban during televised sport which came into force on Thursday.

GVC, along with bet365, Sky Bet, William Hill and the owner of Paddy Power, agreed in June to significantly increase the amount contributed to the treatment and research of problem gambling.

The companies agreed to increase their voluntary contribution from 0.1 per cent of their gross profits to one per cent over the next five years.

They have also asked a vocal campaigner on safer gambling to chair an independent committee that will recommend how best to administer the funds.

They have requested that Lord Chadlington establishes a committee designed to find the most appropriate way for receiving and administering funds.

Robbie Dolan top apprentice in New South Wales

Robbie Dolan has won the season's apprentice jockeys' premiership in New South Wales, which ended on Thursday.

The 23-year-old from Kildare, who worked for Adrian Keatley on the Curragh, rode five winners in Ireland before heading to Australia in November 2016,

He is a grandson of former jockey Peadar Matthews, who rode two Irish Classic winners, Arctic Vale (St Leger) and Linacre (2,000 Guineas), for Paddy Prendergast in the 1960s and also the 1977 Royal Whip Stakes on Alleged for Vincent O'Brien.

Dolan's father Bobby, who worked for Dermot Weld for 26 years and looked after Weld's 2004 Irish Derby winner Grey Swallow, said: "Robbie had a fantastic season in New South Wales and rode a total of 93 winners to be top apprentice both in the metropolitan area and also on the country circuit."

Dolan, who worked with John Sadler in Melbourne when he first went to Australia, subsequently joined trained Mark Newnham, with whom he is currently based in Sydney.

"Robbie will be presented with his awards at Royal Randwick on August 15 and I'll be with him. He's in the top ten in the betting to be overall champion jockey this time next year. It's all incredible," Dolan snr said.

Northern Racing College renamed in national makeover

The Northern Racing College has been renamed the National Horseracing College as its directors seek to better reflect its nationwide appeal.

The change of name is effective immediately and was described by chief executive Stephen Padgett as a logical step in the evolution of the college, which was founded in Doncaster in 1984 and has been known as the Northern Racing College since 1995.

"Initially the focus of the college's recruiting and the employers with which it worked were relatively local," said Padgett. "Over time the scope and scale of its work expanded nationally and its standing in British racing matured.

"However, the title of Northern Racing College has caused a certain amount of confusion and perpetuates some misperceptions about our role. The facts are the college recruits and delivers top-class training to people of all ages from all parts of Britain.

"Our purpose is to provide training for the horseracing industry and our activities are not confined to the north of England. With that in mind, the board has taken the logical step in the college’s progression by adopting a title, the National Horseracing College, which better describes the reality of our objectives."

O'Brien relies on Happen and Coral Beach in Saratoga Invitational Oaks

Aidan O'Brien is responsible for two of the six runners in the Grade 1 Saratoga Invitational Oaks (22.51, Sky) on Friday.

Athasi Stakes winner Happen steps up to the 1m1½f trip for the first time having finished a never-nearer sixth to Watch Me at Ascot last time, and is the mount of Wayne Lordan.

John Velazquez gets the call aboard Coral Beach, who was one of a couple of fillies not to get the clearest of runs behind likely favourite Concrete Rose in the Belmont Oaks last month. Coral Beach then finished last of five in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes at the Curragh.

O'Brien said: "Happen ran sixth in the Coronation at Royal Ascot and has been in good form since. She's going up in trip, but we don't think that will be an issue. Coral Beach is also in good form and, hopefully, she'll have better luck than she did on her last visit to the US when she got badly hampered at Belmont."

French import Olendon – second to Siyarafina in the Prix Saint Alary when trained by Pascal Bary – was another to get no run behind Concrete Rose and represents the all-conquering combination of Chad Brown and Irad Ortiz.

Noel Fehily returns to racing with new syndicate operation

The recently-retired Noel Fehily is searching for the first owners of a new racing syndicate to be run under his name.

The Noel Fehily Racing Syndicate is the jockey's first foray back into racing since retiring in March and will be managed by the Grade 1-winning pilot as well as active jockey David Crosse.

The first iteration of the syndicate will feature two horses, both purchased by Fehily, to be trained at separate yards. Pre-training of both horses will take place at Fehily's own yard, based near Melksham in Wiltshire.

Via the syndicate's website, Fehily said: "Throughout my riding career I've always been extremely interested in the breeding and bloodstock side of the industry and now I've retired from riding, I'm concentrating on that side of things as well as breaking and pre-training young horses."

Fehily signed off his brilliant career in the saddle with a winner on his last ride at Newbury, just days removed from partnering Eglantine Du Seuil to success in the Mares' Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

Bryan hearing

Amateur jockey Peter Bryan will face a independent disciplinary panel at BHA headquarters in London on August 1 after testing positive for a metabolite of cocaine at Perth in April.

Benzoylecgonine was detected in a sample submitted by Bryan during the seven-race card on April 25, during which the jockey had one ride.

If found to be in breach of BHA rules, Bryan could face having his license withdrawn for a period of up to six months.

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