Keith Dalgleish receives his cheque at Sandown (Pic courtesty of Ellie Welton)

Sky Bet Sunday Series reaction: Sir Ian Good reflects on near miss

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Mon August 22, 2022 · 3y ago

Sir Ian Good has spoken of how it felt to watch his horse, Evaluation, miss out on a £100,000 bonus - by the narrowest of margins at Sandown on Sunday.

Sir Ian's pride and joy was going for his third win in the Sky Bet Sunday Series – which, if successful, would have landed him and his daughter, Catriona, the bumper pay-out.

The Keith Dalgleish-trained Evaluation looked the winner everywhere but on the line, going down by a nose to Duke Of Verona.

Speaking on Monday, Sir Ian, who is also Chairman of Hamilton Racecourse, said: “I’ve owned horses for 25 years, and won the Zetland Gold Cup, but have never felt excitement like that before. We were happy the way the race developed, given his poor draw, but both Keith and I thought he had been caught on the line. ITV’s Luke Harvey couldn’t believe how relaxed I was after, but, as I said to him, racing is full of highs and lows, and we never expected to be in this position in the first place.

“And that’s the beauty of the Sunday Series, it’s given a certain grade of horses the opportunity to perform on a stage with excellent prize-money and bonuses on offer. I thought the TV coverage was excellent too – especially for those learning about the sport. It’s been a great concept and hopefully the Series will be around for years to come.”

There was consolation for Evaluation's trainer, Dalgleish, whose stable secured most points across the six-fixture Series, and therefore scooped a £10,000 bonus for his stable staff.

Speaking to Racing TV, Dalgleish said: "All credit to the staff, they did a fantastic job. I am really pleased we won it. We had a look at it at the start of the year and saw which horses might have a crack of picking up some prizes.

"It (the Series) is just what racing needs - there's a spark to it. It gives a yard like ours – which does not have a lot of top horses – and our owners, the chance to target some of these races and bonuses, and gives everyone real enthusiasm."

Tim Easterby's stable landed the £3,000 prize for finishing second and Mark and Charlie Johnston took home the £2,000 prize for coming third.

The series was showcased in a twilight slot on ITV – which attracted an average peak of nearly 230,000 for the six fixtures – and Racing TV. The £100,000 bonus for the first jockey to ride seven winners and the £25,000 bonus for the first trainer to train seven winners was not won.

The Sky Bet Sunday Series is an industry-wide collaboration between ITV, Sky Bet, Racecourse Media Group, and the six racecourses involved this year.

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.

Like what you've read?