Britain's racecourses are running hard to stand still - and might just be feeling cursed

The front page of Tuesday's Racing Post had a good story to tell with the news that racecourse attendances had risen in May.

As colleague Scott Burton reported, more than 500,000 people went racing in Britain during the month, around 13 per cent more than 12 months earlier and a stark contrast to the double-digit percentage falls that took place in March and April.

Not all was rosy in the garden – Newbury will have been extremely disappointed that the attendance for Lockinge Stakes day fell below 10,000 for the first time since 2009, for example – but the overall figure represents a welcome boost for the sport and especially racecourses following several months of gloomy headlines.