Canford Cliffs filly the star lot in Ascot auction on Wednesday

An auction in aid of the Spinal Injuries Association takes place at Ascot on Wednesday, including the chance to buy a half-share in a filly, with training fees and expenses covered.

In all there are eight lots, also including tickets to Old Trafford to see Manchester United and a tour of the Match of the Day studios, as well as Centre Court tickets for Wimbledon and four seats at Twickenham for England v South Africa this autumn.

The half-share in the filly, by Canford Cliffs out of an unraced Galileo mare, is offered by Paul Roy. The horse can be named by the buyer and run in their colours. The purchaser will receive half of any prize-money won, and half the proceeds if the horse is subsequently sold.

Bids can be made in advance online by clicking here

AUCTION LOTS

Two Centre Court debenture seats at the 2018 Wimbledon Tennis Championships with lunch

Tickets for England v South Africa rugby international at Twickenham on Saturday, November 3, 2018

Private hospitality box at Ascot racecourse

Spa day for two at Audley Club at Inglewood, in Kintbury, Berkshire, with a champagne afternoon tea

Two tickets to a dinner at Williams Racing and a Q&A with the 2018 drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirtokin

Evening at the Royal Albert Hall with box hospitality

Half-share in a yearling filly by Canford Cliffs

Two tickets to see Manchester United at Old Trafford, a tour of the Match of the Day studios and accommodation for two in the Principal Hotel, Manchester

Freak accident claims Da Capo Dandy's life at Southwell

The James Ewart stable suffered an upsetting loss before racing even began at Southwell on Monday, arriving at the track full of hope and with Da Capo Dandy – a winner of her last three starts, two of them at Southwell – in the horsebox and leaving without the Dave Allen-owned four-year-old after a freak accident coming off the horsebox claimed her life.

Explaining what happened on Tuesday, Ewart said: "She arrived at Southwell and they thought she'd travelled well enough, she was a bit stupid coming off the lorry but that's normal for her. She was messing about kicking out and she broke a pastern. She can be a bit boisterous on her travels and then she's come off the ramp and been a little bit naughty and that was it.

"There was a little misunderstanding as to what had taken place at the time, whether it was a pelvis or a pastern, but it was a pastern and it was very tragic and very sad and I don't think there's any blame to be apportioned, it's just one of those freak accidents you get with horses. Everyone was very upset."

Gowran rescheduled

Following the cancellation of the Gowran Park meeting scheduled for last Sunday, Horse Racing Ireland has announced it will be restaged on Tuesday, May 29, as an evening fixture.

A new programme of races featuring the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Victor McCalmont Memorial Stakes will be published in due course.

Fresh entries for the meeting will close by 12 noon on Thursday, May 24, with declarations to run to be made by 10am on Monday, May 28. The time of the first race will be at 5.15pm.

Breeches up for grabs

A set of Sam Twiston-Davies's riding breeches, signed on Gold Cup day by a number of riders including big-race-winning jockey and three-time champion Richard Johnson, are currently on auction to raise money for multiple sclerosis.

Besides Richard Johnson’s and Sam Twiston-Davies’s signatures, the breeches have also been signed by more than a dozen top jockeys, including Triumph Hurdle winner Jack Kennedy, County Hurdle winner Bridget Andrews, Albert Bartlett winner Harry Cobden, as well as Paul Townend, David Mullins and Harry Skelton.

The idea was the brainchild of Ditcheat conditional Alexander Thorne, who asked Twiston-Davies to collect the signatures in a bid to support lifelong friend Alan Rae's efforts to raise money for the MS Society.

Rae's mother suffers from multiple sclerosis and he has organised a number of events, including climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya this summer to raise money for the charity.

“I was going to auction the breeches at the silent auction but, as Mr Twiston-Davies got so many famous names to sign and on such a great day in racing and in such a famous location, I thought I should open up the bidding to the wider racing world and hopefully get a bigger donation to charity and the battle to fight MS with an online auction,” said Rae of the ebay auction that ends at 22:13:03 on May 4.

The auction also includes a Racing Post, admission ticket and programme from Gold Cup Day on March 16 this year. You can follow the bid here.

Additional race at Cork

There will be an additional three-year-old maiden run at Cork on Saturday, May 5.

The race, a fillies only maiden over a mile, was introduced by Horse Racing Ireland at the request of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association. Entries will close at 12pm on Tuesday, May 1.

Susannah Gill to quit Arena Racing Company

Arena Racing Company's director of external affairs Susannah Gill is set to leave the group next month Sam Cone will take over Gill's day-to-day responsibilities.Gill will remain a committee member of Women in Racing and a member of the Diversity in Racing steering group, as well as a trustee of the Northern Racing College and Racing Foundation.

She said: "I have had a wonderful four years at Arc. I'm proud to have worked with such a great team of people and I wish everyone at Arc all the best for the future. I look forward to taking on a new challenge in the coming months."

Nottingham inspection

Officials at Nottingham will inspect the track at 4pm on Monday to assess conditions for Tuesday's fixture. The going on Sunday was described as soft, but the forecast on Monday is for heavy rain.

Hadden Frost third in Maryland Hunt Cup

Hadden Frost finished third in the Maryland Hunt Cup at Worthington Valley, near Baltimore, on Saturday.

Only three of the nine runners completed, with Senior Senator and jockey Eric Poretz leading throughout to record a five-length victory in the 122nd running of the race.

Joshua G finished second, with Drift Society and Frost third, some 140 and a quarter lengths behind.

On what was a big day for the Frost family, Hadden's sister Bryony also finished third in the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Present Man.

Royal Ascot entry Beckford on the mark

Beckford rallied from far back in the stretch to run down pace-setter Salmanazar by three-quarters of a length to win the $100,000 William Walker Stakes at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

A Group 2 winner in Ireland last year when trained by Gordon Elliott, Beckford was making his debut for trainer Brendan Walsh and having first start since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf behind Mendelssohn.

Rider Julien Leparoux said: “He’s a very fast horse. I knew he needed a target in front of him so we sat off the pace in a good spot around the turn and he flew home. I think he is going to have a very bright future. Brendan and his team did a very nice job with him.”

Beckford has an entry in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, for which he is between a 12-1 and 20-1 shot.

Big money for cheaper purchases

The 2018 Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Series will offer aspiring owners and trainers a unique shot at €617,000 in prize-money and the prospect of a €120,000 final at Naas in October.

Now in its fourth year, the series is aimed at two-year-olds bought at auction for €72,000 or less and to a European Breeders Fund-registered sire, with the first of 22 qualifiers taking place at the Curragh on May 11.

Created in partnership with Horse Racing Ireland, the series provides a minimum prize-fund of €20,000 in qualifying races and, with the added benefit of being Plus 10-registered, opens more avenues for potential owners.

Trainer Patrick Prendergast said: "I'm a major fan of the Foran EBF Series, it encourages the smaller owner to buy horses. It’s a good sales pitch for me when I go to sales. I can say to them that you have a good chance on your investment.

"This whole thing is achievable, you buy a horse, syndicate it for a reasonable budget, then there's a programme of races and a final to aim at. I have a good string of two-year-olds this year, they are nearly all eligible and we'll be aiming at the series with plenty of them."

Before the series started in 2014 there were only eight auction races of this kind in Ireland, but there are now 23 thanks to the growth of the series, which has seen the total number of runners double since 2015 to 287 last year.

Last year 50 per cent of winners were bought at auction for €19,000 or less with the overall winner Yulong Gold Fairy bought for €8,000. It is hoped the series will continue to stimulate the lower end of the auction market.

Each winning breeder and trainer will receive a €150 voucher for Foran Equine products with the winning trainer also receiving a pack containing many of their 'performance range' products.