Pontefract pulls in the public

On the day when Britain's biggest bookmakers, Ladbrokes, kept their betting shops closed for fear of unprofitability due to punter disinterest, racegoers demonstrated their approval for Sunday racing by breaking the post-war attendance record at Pontefract.

More than 16,000, including an estimated 2,500 children, squeezed into the South Yorkshire course for its first Sunday race-day, easily eclipsing the previous best of 11,294.

The clerk of the course, Norman Gundill, said: "The crowd has exceeded all our expectations."

Sunday racing experience, page 5