Sandown investigating racecourse brawl and plans to issue life bans

Police will be working with Sandown officials to identify and ban individuals involved in a brawl during Saturday’s jumps season finale meeting at the racecourse.

Footage posted on social media on Saturday evening showed around half a dozen men grappling with each other and throwing punches in a first floor bar, with tables knocked over and shocked racegoers watching on.

Three security guards arrive towards the end of the video to break up the fighting, but not before an older man wearing a light shirt and jeans appears to knock out another individual by punching him in the head while they are being restrained.

The video was posted on Twitter alongside a message, which said: “This is a disgrace. Right in front of us with security scared to eject those involved. Premier enclosure tickets that are anything but premier.”

The Jockey Club, which owns Sandown, confirmed the fighting had taken place on Saturday and that efforts would be made to identify those involved and ban them from attending courses operated by the group.

Sarah Drabwell, Sandown’s general manager, said: “Racing is a fantastic day out for most people and then you see our security team having to respond to behaviour like this from individuals who should never return to a racecourse.

“As such we are liaising with the police and will work with them to try to identify anyone involved, in order to issue life bans from every racecourse we operate.”

Sandown and the Jockey Club have also stated their intention to review the dress code at the racecourse after two women were refused entry to the Premier enclosure on Saturday for wearing white trainers, which were not permitted by the racecourse’s dress code.

This provoked an online backlash against the course and a Sandown spokesperson said on Saturday that “we're taking today's feedback on board and will now review this for future fixtures.”

Around 9,000 spectators attended Sandown on Saturday, according to a Jockey Club spokesman.

There was a crowd of 10,501 at the fixture in 2019, the last time spectators were permitted prior to the coronavirus pandemic, although the lack of trains running to Esher station due to engineering works was highlighted by the Jockey Club as a contributory reason for this year's fall.

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