Cheltenham to honour Lorna Brooke in track's amateur fixture on Friday

Cheltenham will honour the late Lorna Brooke at its Race Night meeting on Friday, with the penultimate race on the card at 7.45 to be run as the Lorna Brooke Open Hunters’ Chase.

Brooke died aged 37 on April 18 as a result of injuries sustained in a fall on Orchestrated at Taunton on April 8.

Ian Renton, regional managing director of the Jockey Club, added: “Race Night is the one fixture of the year at Cheltenham purely for amateur riders and it only seemed right to honour Lorna in this way.

“It is sure to be a very emotional occasion as Lorna was such a popular figure and everyone at the racecourse will be united in her memory.”

A celebration of Lorna’s life will also be held on May 24 at Ludlow racecourse. It is hoped that Covid-19 restrictions will allow Lorna’s many friends and colleagues from within racing to be present. Anyone wishing to attend should contact Ludlow on 01584 856221 or by emailing mail@ludlowracecourse.co.uk.

Betting shops in Northern Ireland set to reopen from Friday

Betting shops in Northern Ireland will be able to open their doors again from Friday as lockdown measures continue to ease.

Shops in Scotland reopened on Monday, a fortnight after betting shops in England and Wales started trading again.

Betting shops remain closed in the Republic of Ireland, with Paddy Power's parent company Flutter Entertainment saying on Thursday: "Our current expectation is that Irish shops will reopen in the second half of May."

UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain table regional racing talks

Racing clubs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are set to hold talks in the coming months to discuss a coordinated approach to developing the sport in the region.

The three jurisdictions launching the talks already stage high-profile meetings, most notably the Dubai World Cup Carnival, which takes place from January to March. There are plans for more countries from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to become involved.

Prince Bandar bin Khalid al Faisal, chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia, said: "With an increasingly attractive racing offering in the region, we decided as a group it was time to focus on ways to open up our racing to each other while simultaneously making it more attractive for internationals to come here, facilitating the progression of racing standards across the entire region.

"We're in the preliminary stages of these talks, which will initially take place between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, but we're laying the foundations for a Gulf-wide cooperation that will benefit all of us and, we hope, the racing world at large by offering summer and winter racing in the Middle East."

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